48 workers at SoFi NFL Stadium being built in California test positive for COVID-19
The Los Angeles County Health Department of Public Health reported that 48 people working at the SoFi stadium site in Inglewood tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday, just as the $5-billion project comes into its final stages, the Los Angeles Times reports.
The department’s count has increased by 15 in less than two weeks, the Times said. The jobs held by those testing positive were not disclosed.
Safety measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus were put in place in March so construction work could continue on the future home of the Los Angeles Chargers and Rams continued, ESPN reported.
“We’re going to do whatever we need to do to save lives,” Alex Comisar, a spokesman for L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti said in March, ESPN reported. “We’ll continue to take direction from public health experts from the county and the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] to determine what policies need to be put into place. With any activity that’s going on, we expect folks to take into account proper social distancing.”
The construction of the NFL venue has had other problems over the the past several months.
In February, a 300-foot crane collapsed into an open parking area while a smaller crane was being moved and hit the larger crane, causing it to fall, CBS reported. And in June, an iron worker fell to his death from a height of 50 to 60 feet while working on the southeast corner of the stadium, McClatchy News reported.
This story was originally published July 17, 2020 at 7:13 PM with the headline "48 workers at SoFi NFL Stadium being built in California test positive for COVID-19."