Coronavirus panic worse than virus itself: Musk to workers

San Francisco, March 17
After calling coronavirus panic dumb and mind-killer on Twitter, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has written an email to employees in Bay Area, saying "coronavirus panic is worse than virus itself".

Musk said that employees are not forced to go to work.

"First, I'd like to be super clear that if you feel the slightest bit ill or even uncomfortable, please don't feel obligated to come to work. I will personally be at work, but that is just me. Totally ok if you want to stay home for any reason," he said in the email seen by electrek.co.

"A lot of rumours are flying around, but, to the best of our knowledge, no one at Tesla (over 56,000 people) has tested positive for COVID-19. I will inform you immediately if anything changes," he added.

And then, Musk went critical of the panic around the new coronavirus (COVID-19) that has killed over 80 people in the US.

"My frank opinion remains that the harm from the coronavirus panic far exceeds that of the virus itself. If there is a massive redirection of medical resources out of proportion to the danger, it will result in less available care to those with critical medical needs, which does not serve the greater good."

SpaceX and Tesla CEO earlier tweeted that the unnecessary fear over the pandemic is not good for the humanity.

"Fear is the mind-killer," he posted.

In the email, he issued a warning for family gatherings:

"Much is made of public gatherings, but please be cautious of family gatherings too. What is relatively harmless to a child can be dangerous to grandparents," said Musk.

"My best guess, for what it is worth, based on the latest Center for Disease Control data, is that confirmed COVID-19 (this specific form of the common cold) cases will not exceed 0.1 per cent of the US population".

Musk, however, didn't say anything about paid leaves.

In a memo to SpaceX employees last week, Musk said that they were far less likely to die from COVID-19 than car crashes.

In another tweet, he said that "the coronavirus panic is dumb."