Brian Turmail , vice president of public affairs at the Associated General Contractors of America , acknowledged COVID-19 case numbers are increasing in the industry , but said there is still no definitive data that connects infection among construction workers to jobsite spread .
“ Given the rising coronavirus case counts across the country , and its particularly high rates among the demographic groups that make up much of the industry ’ s workforce , we are definitely seeing more workers testing positive ,” Turmail said . “ The distinction is that the virus is not spreading occupationally — in other words , workers are not getting the virus from their jobsites — but instead is being transmitted via local communities and then workers are showing up , asymptomatic , and testing positive .”
He said the industry has been particularly challenged in the weeks following Thanksgiving , when workers may have gathered to celebrate with families . Overall , the study found that among all the subjects who tested positive , 42.3 % were asymptomatic . That has been the biggest issue for construction companies now as well , according to Turmail .
“ What firms are struggling with is how to get workers to not show up on the jobsite with coronavirus , when so many cases of coronavirus are asymptomatic ,” Turmail said .
Turmail pointed out that the number of construction workers tested in the study , 529 , was relatively small . He also cited data from New York Governor Andrew Cuomo that showed construction as the source of exposure in only . 66 % of COVID-19 cases in New York State from September to November , according to contact tracing data .
As a counterpoint to Klausner ’ s comment about some construction workers still coming to work in the absence of paid sick leave , Turmail noted that the Families First Coronavirus Response Act ( FFCRA ), which requires employers with less than 500 employees to pay two weeks of sick leave for workers in quarantine or experiencing COVID-19 symptoms , was in effect during the study . There are exemptions in the FFCRA , however , for certain employers with fewer than 50 employees .
California recently implemented its own emergency order requiring workers to receive COVID-19 sick pay as well , though that was after the study ’ s data collection period .
The study noted that it didn ’ t conduct contact tracing of individuals who tested positive , but instead sought to to determine the frequency and prevalence of asymptomatic infection among certain subpopulations .
“ We found a higher prevalence of asymptomatic infection among individuals who reported work in construction and among racial and ethnic minorities ,” the study said .
More testing on jobsites could also prove effective , Klausner said .
“ Routine , twice weekly testing to identify those with infection to prevent the spread to others might help ,” the UCLA professor said . “ Many essential industries now do that .”
This story has been updated to include additional AGC commentary .
8 DITCHMEN • JANUARY 2021