A new analysis has quantified how construction activity during the coronavirus pandemic elevates health hazards for workers as well as members of the general public in Austin, Texas.
The study, commissioned by Austin Mayor Steve Adler, found that keeping the city’s jobsites open while nearly all other businesses are shut down could triple the number of coronavirus-related hospitalizations in the general population — from 10,000 to 30,000 — and raise construction workers’ risk of hospitalization eightfold by the middle of August.
