BUFFALO, N.Y. — State Assemblyman Sean Ryan has sent a letter to Tesla CEO Elon Musk asking him to consider building ventilators at the Tesla plant in Buffalo.
Tesla recently announced it's plan to build ventilators to help combat the spread of coronavirus. The state estimates needing between 18,000-37,000 ventilators, but currently only have access to 6,000.
In his letter, Ryan said the ventilators should be made in Buffalo because of the growing need in the state of New York, which has the most COVID-19 cases in the nation.
" At this difficult time, it is critical that each of us do our part to ensure our state can respond to the growing pandemic," Ryan wrote in the letter. "New York State is the most impacted state in the nation with over 20,000 cases of COVID-19, and the numbers are growing every day. It makes sense that increased ventilator production would happen here to ensure we can meet the growing demand of our healthcare system."
Tesla recently suspended operations at it's South Buffalo plant until further notice.