Elon Musk delivers hundreds of ventilators bought in China to US

Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Monday announced that the electric car company had bought hundreds of ventilators, a medical device crucial to combating severe cases of the coronavirus, from China and shipped them to the U.S.

“China had an oversupply, so we bought 1255 FDA-approved ResMed, Philips & Medtronic ventilators on Friday night & airshipped them to LA,” Musk tweeted late Monday night.

Yup, China had an oversupply, so we bought 1255 FDA-approved ResMed, Philips & Medtronic ventilators on Friday night & airshipped them to LA. If you want a free ventilator installed, please let us know!

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 23, 2020

The move by Tesla comes as different manufacturing industries, including auto, are pitching in to help fight against COVID-19. Along with personal protective equipment like masks and gowns, ventilators are a product many hospitals around the U.S. have said are in dire shortage.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) confirmed Tuesday that Musk had given California, one of the states hit hardest by COVID-19, 1,000 ventilators.

California Gov Newsom says @elonmusk delivered 1,000 ventilators to the state today. Just Wow.

— Scott Wapner (@ScottWapnerCNBC) March 23, 2020

There are more than 46,000 confirmed cases of the virus in the U.S. with almost 600 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.