An employee at Tesla's Gigafactory in Nevada has tested positive for COVID-19

• An employee at Tesla's Nevada Gigafactory has tested positive for COVID-19, Business Insider has learned.
• The Nevada Gigafactory is the only one of Tesla's three US factories still operating through the coronavirus pandemic.
• In an email to employees, Tesla said the employee was in the factory last on March 21st, and went home after feeling ill. They've been home since then.
• Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

An employee at Tesla's Nevada Gigafactory has tested positive for COVID-19, Business Insider has learned from a Tesla internal email.

Tesla informed employees of the positive test result on Saturday, March 29th at 8:37 PST. The email said that the sick employee was last in the factory for about an hour on March 21st and then went home ill. The sick employee has been home ever since, and individuals who interacted with them have been informed, said the company.

Employees who were not contacted about an interaction with the sick employee should carry on as normal.

"If there is a future confirmed case, our protocol at Tesla is to interview the individual, investigate their whereabouts, and speak to their managers to determine to the best of their ability who had contact with the individual at work. We will notify individuals who had direct and extended contact and tell them to self-quarantine to watch for symptoms. Please feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns."

Last week, Tesla informed employees that two workers at its Fremont, California plant tested positive for COVID-19. That plant is in a county that was ordered to shelter-in-place the week of March 16th, but CEO Elon Musk fought to keep the factory up and running until March 23rd.

Musk has also said that panic surrounding the coronavirus is "dumb," vacillated between whether or not Tesla can manufacture ventilators, and claimed that doctors have balked from treating patients for fear of contracting COVID-19.

If you want to share your experience working at Tesla during the coronavirus pandemic, email me at llopez@businessinsider.com