Brands are arriving in droves to assist with the current coronavirus pandemic. Prada, LVMH and Kering are making millions of masks and using its parfum factories for hand sanitiser, sustainable sneaker giant AllBirds distributed $500,000 worth of products to US healthcare workers, and overnight, Ralph Lauren has pledged $10 million USD  to fight the virus.

On Saturday, Elon Musk announced that Tesla and Space X would send out 250,000 N95 masks as well as dedicate its resources to creating ventilators for hospitals and intensive care units. Now, Tesla has reopened its Gigafactory New York in Buffalo following lockdown closures last week in a bid to aid production. Taking to Twitter, Musk provided an update.

“Giga New York will reopen for ventilator production as soon as humanly possible,” he tweeted on Wednesday. “We will do anything in our power to help the citizens of New York.”

“Making good progress,” Musk followed up. “We will do whatever is needed to help in these difficult times.”

There is a significant shortage of ventilators worldwide, but particularly in New York where cases continue to surge at unprecedented rates. The Federal Emergency Management Agency was criticised by the state’s governor Andrew Cuomo when only 400 ventilators were sent, rather than the needed 30,000.

Stay tuned for more.