i dont appose the sentiment but i appose the statement of this being a illogical decission.
lets assume that unit of loss to tesla is 1 , loss associated with virus affecting customers and employees -> 5 . loss associated with virus shuting down production indefinitely -> 30 , loss associated with authorites suing you for breaking the law 0.3 . probability of the factory being shut down by authorities -> 0.8 , probability of your employees and customers getting affected -> 0.7 and probability of authorities suing you for breaking the order is 0.5 . so in total (30x0.8) > (5x0.7 + 0.5x0.3) . we might disagree in the scale and probabilities but the conclusion that this was a illogical decission is not direct.
Publicity from their factory becoming a Coronavirus locus... priceless.
There's a _huge_ negative publicity risk here, depending on how things unfold.
the customers may come and they may not come , but if the plant stays shut the whole company will shut down specially after having a lot of capx to get a new production line for making model y.