Elon Musk's Coronavirus Ventilators Never Delivered In CA: Report

LOS ANGELES, CA — Tesla founder Elon Musk never delivered the ventilators he had promised to donate to California hospitals, the California governor's office told the Sacramento Bee in a new report out this week. The devices Musk did purchase are not suited to help coronavirus patients. Health officials have warned against this type of ventilator, saying it's not the correct device to treat COVID-19 patients and could further spread the coronavirus, the Bee reports.

Gov. Gavin Newsom had announced in March that Musk had donated more than 1,000 ventilators to help coronavirus patients and said the devices had arrived in Los Angeles. Musk had also tweeted that he had "FDA-approved ventilators" and they could be more available nationwide.

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Instead, Musk had provided BiPAP machines, according to reports, which are used to help treat sleep apnea patients. On Feb. 23 the American Society of Anesthesiologists had issued a guidance warning that CPAP and BPAP machines "may increase the risk of infectious transmission," the Financial Times reports.

We have extra FDA-approved ventilators. Will ship to hospitals worldwide within Tesla delivery regions. Device & shipping cost are free. Only requirement is that the vents are needed immediately for patients, not stored in a warehouse. Please me or @Tesla know.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 31, 2020

Musk had also donated 40 of his ventilators to hospitals in New York, however, they were not the correct kind, health officials said.

If you have unused medical supplies that you would like to sell or donate to NYC’s fight against the #coronavirus, please fill out this form: https://t.co/n2kW6BGpYc pic.twitter.com/F1rMyhlDPV
— NYC Health + Hospitals (@NYCHealthSystem) March 31, 2020

Musk has responded to the criticism, calling it an attack from troll bot accounts.

Weird that so many troll/bot accounts were activated to attack on this fake issue. Wonder who’s behind it.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 2, 2020

Hospitals throughout the U.S. are desperate for ventilators and additional medical equipment in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. Companies like Tesla are responding to the call for ventilators, including GM and Ford, and shifting from auto manufacturing to producing life-saving medical devices.

Musk called the coronavirus pandemic "dumb" in a tweet in early March.

The coronavirus panic is dumb
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 6, 2020

Full coronavirus coverage: California Coronavirus: Latest Updates On Cases, Orders, Closures