Someone should tell Bernie Sanders: a billionaire just saved thousands of lives.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced Monday that he had acquired 1,255 FDA-approved ventilators from China. He’s now donating them to U.S. hospitals.
“China had an oversupply, so we bought 1,255 FDA-approved Resmed, Phillips & Medtronic ventilators on Friday night & airshipped them to LA,” said Musk, via Twitter. “If you want a free ventilator installed, please let us know!”
Musk’s gift is a huge boon to struggling hospitals in the United States–particularly California, where coronavirus cases have shot upwards in the past week and where most of the machines are expected to wind up.
It’s also very generous: depending on the model, new ventilators can cost up to $50,000 apiece.
Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom praised Musk for the move, calling it a “heroic effort.”
“Elon Musk, how about this?” Newsom said, at a press conference. “I told you a few days ago that he was likely to have a thousand ventilators this week. They arrived in Los Angeles and [Musk] is already working with the hospital association and others to get those ventilators out in real-time. It’s a heroic effort.”
Musk, one of the richest people in the world, was worth $45 billion before the market crash in mid-March. He’s now worth roughly $27 billion.