Tesla News: Elon Musk Sounds Off Once Again, Suggests Violation Of Civil Liberties

Elon Musk has escalated his pushback against coronavirus restrictions. On Saturday, the Tesla CEO announced that he was suing health officials in Alameda County, California, after lockdown measures prevented one of the company’s factories from reopening at the start of May.

In the same blog post from Saturday, Musk also threatened to move his company’s headquarters and other operations out of California and into either Nevada or Texas. He also claimed that Tesla had shared its thorough and rigorous return procedures with county officials, but never heard back from them. These plans allegedly including temperature screenings, work area partitions, health safety training videos, and more.

The Alameda County Public Health Department claims that it has been in contact with Tesla in recent weeks, but did not respond to media requests to comment on the company’s allegations.

Musk also took to Twitter on Saturday to reiterate the seriousness of Tesla’s lawsuit and to accuse the county officials of disregarding civil liberties.

“I’m not messing around,” the CEO said in response to a tweet about the suit. “Absurd & medically irrational behavior in violation of constitutional civil liberties, moreover by *unelected* county officials with no accountability, needs to stop.”

Seemingly in response to officials preventing him from reopening his Alameda location, Tesla’s only factory in the U.S., Musk has recently pivoted towards protesting continued restrictions in place to curb the spread of COVID-19. On April 29, he bluntly tweeted “FREE AMERICA NOW,” and proceeded to share an opinion piece questioning the efficacy of lockdown protocols in preventing the spread of the virus.

Musk, who is also said to be close to receiving a $750 million bonus based on Tesla’s share prices, has had an erratic response to the recent global pandemic. Initially dismissing the concern over the disease as “dumb” in early March, once matters escalated in the U.S., he began offering to provide ventilators to hospitals in need.