Yesterday, Texas lieutenant-governor Dan Patrick held a video press conference on the findings of the task force he established in early April on re-starting the economy. The warning by Mark Escott will clash with the urge in other quarters to open up the Texas economy as soon as possible. It also advised that employers should "take no adverse action against a worker who declines to work at a construction site if the worker believes in good faith that the site presents an imminent health risk to the health of the worker or others due to coronavirus". The city of Austin’s health department has issued a series of guidelines for construction sites, including advice on limiting the numbers on site, daily health screening of workers, disinfecting shared tools and banning water coolers. Greg Abbott, the governor of Texas, allowed construction to continue, however Austin Mayor Steve Adler warned in early April that if construction workers "do not mitigate well, and if workers are passing the virus between them, then the total hospitalisations in our city could be three times higher than it would be without construction activity". That risk is going to increase the more people who are working."Īdditionally, the Austin American-Statesman reported on Tuesday that construction workers in Travis County, which has a population of around 1 million people, and contains state capital Austin, have emerged as a top group among people infected by the coronavirus, along with health care and grocery store employees. He added: "The people who are getting sick right now are generally people who are working right now. "We’ve seen a significant number of construction workers as well as family members of construction workers who are in that positive group right now," he said, reports Austin television station, KVUE. No figures have been released, but on Tuesday, 5 May, Mark Escott, the director of emergency medical services for the city of Austin, expressed concern to the city council about the numbers of construction workers testing positive for Covid-19. A health official in Texas has reported a surge in coronavirus cases among construction crews after a decision was taken last month not to close sites.
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