Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk has donated more than 1,200 ventilators to support medical facilities in California as they treat coronavirus.
California Governor Gavin Newsom confirmed Musk’s donation during a press conference on Monday.
“I told you a few days ago he was likely to have 1,000 ventilators this week,” Newsom told media. “They arrived in Los Angeles, and Elon Musk is already working with the hospital association and others to get those ventilators out in real-time. It’s a heroic effort.”
In a tweet, Musk said he was able to tap into an oversupply of machines in China and have them flown to Los Angeles.
Hospitals are scrambling to stock up on ventilators and protective gear as the coronavirus continues spread across the U.S. Musk previously said that with learnings from both Tesla and SpaceX his teams could manufacture ventilators.
Tesla has also donated 50,000 N95 masks this week to help protect medical workers treating patients.
These moves come after Musk received criticism for downplaying the pandemic on March 18. “My guess is that the panic will cause more harm than the virus, if that hasn’t happened already,” he said on Twitter.