Seven more SoFi Stadium construction workers test positive for COVID-19

Nathan Fenno
·2 min read
Freeway traffic passes in front of the SoFi Stadium, the new home of the NFL's Los Angeles Chargers and Rams, while still under construction in Inglewood, Calif. on Wednesday, March 4, 2020. The Rams and Chargers are expected to play August preseason games at SoFi Stadium, the completion of which was already delayed a year because of the amount of rain the region received in 2018-2019.(AP Photo/Richard Vogel)
Seven more workers at the SoFi Stadium site have tested positive for COVID-19. (Richard Vogel / Associated Press)

Seven more workers at the SoFi Stadium project in Inglewood have tested positive for COVID-19, according to emails the joint venture overseeing construction at the $5-billion development sent to trade partners in the last week.

Twenty-five workers at the 298-acre site are known to have tested positive since late March, the bulk of the cases coming in the last month.

The emails from Turner-AECOM Hunt reviewed by The Times detailing the most recent positive tests show four of them came from people working on the stadium, two working on the performance venue that shares the same roof and one working on a bridge in the park to the south of the sail-shaped venue.

The emails said one worker was asymptomatic and two others had “minor symptoms,” but didn’t describe the severity of the illness for the four remaining workers. The seven workers were last on site between June 15 and 24.

“All related tools, equipment and facilities that may have been used by the worker within the last week have been cleaned and further disinfecting has been performed,” the emails said, using identical language in each one.

Construction managers instituted several safety measures as work on the project, which has about 3,000 workers on site each day, continued during the pandemic. The measures included mandatory temperature checks for each person entering the site, face coverings, social distancing and requiring workers who fall ill to provide a doctor’s note certifying that they’ve been symptom-free for 72 hours before returning to the project.

“Stay home when you first start feeling sick — for any reason and symptom,” the emails said.

Last month, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health said in an email to The Times that “an investigation was opened for the SoFi Stadium construction site.” The agency hasn’t responded to questions about what the inquiry entails.

Developers announced Wednesday that the stadium is 97% complete and that workers recently finished installing the distinctive 120-yard long, dual-sided oval video board.

The NFL is expected to reduce the preseason from four games to two. If the rescheduling goes as expected, the Rams would open SoFi Stadium on Aug. 22 as the visiting team against the Chargers, a game scheduled to kick off at 7 p.m.