Second SoFi Stadium worker tests positive for COVID-19
A second construction worker at the SoFi Stadium development in Inglewood has tested positive for COVID-19, according to an internal email by the joint venture overseeing the project. Workers on site will be subject to mandatory temperature checks.
The email, sent Tuesday by Turner-AECOM Hunt and reviewed by The Times, said the person last worked March 29 on two parking lots at the 298-acre project.
The worker is “receiving care and recovering,” according to the email. Coworkers who had “close contact” with the worker are in self-quarantine and equipment and facilities the worker used are being disinfected.
“PLEASE NOTE,” one sentence of the email said, using all capital letters, “THE PROJECT REMAINS OPEN TO WORK WITHOUT RESTRICTION.”
A spokesman for the joint venture didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. SoFi is a $5-billion stadium scheduled to open in late July with a Taylor Swift concert and will be home to the NFL’s Rams and Chargers. Major construction projects in California have been exempt from Gov. Gavin Newsom’s stay-at-home order because they are considered critical infrastructure, although last week six Bay Area counties moved to prohibit most commercial and residential projects.
The Inglewood site’s construction managers have instituted safety measures that include requiring workers to stay at least six feet from one another and increasing the number of toilets and handwashing stations.
The first worker on the project known to have contracted COVID-19 is an ironworker whose job was in an assembly area outside of the stadium structure. Another worker was a presumptive positive for COVID-19, but workers were told in an email from construction project managers the test came back negative.
Some of the estimated 3,000 workers on the project remain uneasy, saying social distancing is difficult, if not impossible, while doing their jobs correctly.
“There’s still people all over the place gathering,” an ironworker on the project said Tuesday, speaking anonymously for fear of retribution.
Starting Wednesday evening, according to a second internal email reviewed by The Times, all employees on the project will have their temperature taken with noncontact thermometers at six access points to the site.
If an individual’s temperature is 100 degrees or higher, they will have a secondary screening five to 10 minutes later in a “standby area” and be required to list their work locations and individuals they interacted with during the previous 14 days. If their temperature remains elevated, they are required to stay home until their temperature is normal for 72 hours without the use of medication. It’s unclear whether workers would be paid during the absence.