As Tesla flirted with U.S. cities to host it's new Gigafactory, Austin, Texas and Tulsa, Oklahoma became the two finalists.

It looked like Texas was the winner after Tesla made a move on a $5 million piece of land, and local officials approved more than $60 million in tax breaks.

But it looks like Tulsa is still in this fight for the $1.1 billion factory and up to 20,000 eventual jobs.

The production facility will start with 5,000 to 7,000 new jobs and make Tesla's electric Cybertruck and Model Y SUV.

Tulsa has done much to lure Tesla, from repainting a statue to look like CEO Elon Musk, to offering employees free pizza. Tax breaks are still unknown, but Tesla reps may have received something else unexpected: potential COVID-19 exposure.

Musk and other employees flew into town in early July to check out potential sites and meet with Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt.

Then, on July 15, the governor announced that he tested positive for COVID-19, according to Reuters.

A governor spokesperson said Musk wasn’t at risk for contracting the virus, but Tesla has yet to comment on whether or not the employees have been tested.

By: DocMemory
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