COVID-19 cases continue to grow among SoFi Stadium workers
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health reported 15 additional cases of COVID-19 at SoFi Stadium in the last week, raising the total cases among workers at the sprawling project in Inglewood to 75.
More than 4,000 workers have been on site since the first case became public in late March, according to Turner-AECOM Hunt, the joint venture directing construction.
A health department spokeswoman said in an email Tuesday that none of the workers who have tested positive at the project have been hospitalized or died.
Most of the cases have been reported in the last six weeks as construction on the stadium concludes.
The joint venture has announced 41 positive tests since July 2 in emailed memos to trade partners reviewed by The Times.
A lawsuit alleges that unsafe conditions at the SoFi Stadium building site led to construction worker Juan Becerra’s death in a fall in June.
Twenty-three of those cases have come from workers involved with the stadium; 11 from workers at the performance venue that’s under the same sail-shaped roof; three from workers in office trailers; two from workers at the park surrounding an artificial lake; and two from workers at parking lots.
Of those workers, 10 were listed in the emailed announcements as asymptomatic, eight had “minor symptoms” and the severity of illness wasn’t indicated for the remaining 23.
Ten cases announced by the joint venture in August have come from stadium workers. They reported first feeling ill between July 20 and July 29. Most were tested the same day as the onset of illness or a day or two after.
The joint venture has taken a series of safety measures in response to the pandemic, which include required temperature checks for everyone entering the site starting in early April, mandated coverings for the mouth and nose of each worker, and instructing workers to stay home when first feeling ill “for any reason and symptom.” Workers must not have symptoms for 72 hours without medication to be allowed to return to the project.
According to the L.A. County Department of Public Health, six more SoFi Stadium workers tested positive for the novel coronavirus this week, bringing the total cases from the site to 55.
The emailed announcements of positive tests, including the most recent ones, use boilerplate language to describe many of the precautions.
“The trade worker was wearing proper PPE at all times,” the emails say. “All workers in close proximity were also wearing COVID-19 required PPE.”
After the pandemic forced the cancellation of several concerts at the stadium and the NFL’s preseason, the venue’s first event is scheduled to be the regular-season opener between the Rams and Dallas Cowboys on Sept. 13. The Chargers play the Kansas City Chiefs in their opener at the stadium a week later. It’s unclear when — or if — fans will be allowed to attend games.
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