A Tesla employee at Gigafactory Nevada tested positive for coronavirus

A Tesla employee at Gigafactory Nevada tested positive for coronavirus, according to an email Panasonic sent to its employees at the plant.

Earlier this month, Tesla announced that it will temporarily shut down its Fremont factory and Gigafactory New York due to the coronavirus crisis.

At the time, the automaker said that it plans to continue operations at Gigafactory Nevada:

Operations of our others facilities will continue, including Nevada and our service and Supercharging network.

Later, we reported on Tesla’s plan to use the factory shutdowns to do upgrades and improvements to its production at several factories, including Gigafactory Nevada.

We also wrote that Tesla was already reducing the workforce at the factory:

Tesla Gigafactory Nevada is officially still operating. Sources familiar with the matter told Electrek that production is being reduced since the plant supports Fremont factory production with electric drivetrains and battery packs.

They also plan to use the downtime to make some upgrades and improvements to the factory.

At the time, Panasonic already started shutting down its own operations at the plant.

Finally, it was announced last Friday that Tesla would reduce its workforce at Gigafactory Nevada by 75%.

Now Panasonic is letting its employees know that a Tesla employee has tested positive for the coronavirus.

According to the local station News 4, who obtained the Panasonic email, the Tesla employee was onsite at the Gigafactory for one hour on March 21 before going home sick, and he has been at home since.

Tesla has started the safety protocols:

This has been activated and includes 14-day quarantine for particular employees identified by their EHS team and certain cleaning measures.

As for Panasonic, who employs thousands of workers at Gigafactory Nevada, they still have no confirmed cases.

Last week, Tesla confirmed that two employees tested positive for COVID-19 without specifying where they are located. With the employee at Gigafactory Nevada, it now brings the total number of Tesla employees who tested positive for the coronavirus to three.