Six more workers at SoFi Stadium test positive for coronavirus
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health reported six more novel coronavirus cases among workers at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood this week, increasing the total cases at the $5-billion project to 55.
“The SoFi Stadium construction site is still an active outbreak,” the department said in an emailed response to The Times. “Public Health continues to provide infection control prevention education to the general contractor and safety managers to inform their employees.”
The department’s case count doesn’t break down when the workers were tested or their roles.
The Times reviewed notices that Turner-AECOM Hunt, the joint venture overseeing the project, emailed to trade partners this month for 22 workers who tested positive. Eight worked on various parts of the stadium, eight worked on the performance venue that shares the same roof, two worked on parking lots, two worked on a park and two were based in office trailers.
The NFL Players Assn. says its executive committee has agreed to changes to the collective bargaining agreement, and plans to hold a season continue.
The severity of the illness wasn’t indicated in the notices for nine members of the group while seven were listed as asymptomatic and six had “minor symptoms.”
The joint venture, which said more than 4,000 workers have been on site since its first COVID-19 case became public in late March, has implemented safety precautions. Temperature checks and face coverings are mandatory, social distancing is enforced and nonessential employees are directed to work from home.
The notices for each person who tests positive tell workers to stay home when feeling sick “for any reason and symptom.”
“Given the current situation we are facing, if you have fever, cough or difficult breathing, you should think and act as you would if you tested positive for COVID-19,” the notices said.
The long-awaited stadium had been scheduled to open Saturday with a Taylor Swift concert. But that was postponed earlier this year along with several other big-name concerts.
On Friday, the NFL and the players’ union executive committee approved changes to the collective bargaining agreement that included the elimination of preseason games. That means the first game at the stadium would be the Rams facing the Dallas Cowboys on Sept. 13.
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