MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – The Miami-Dade County skyline is always dotted with construction cranes.
But right now, in spite of an order for all nonessential businesses to be closed and public gatherings being limited to 10 people or less due to the COVID-19 pandemic, construction sites around the county are still buzzing.
The question is, why?
Local 10 News took that directly to Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez, who said currently, they are an exception to the rule, but that may not last much longer.
“They are essential," said Gimenez. "The order said they are essential and so they are allowed to run but they have to maintain social distancing.”
Like grocery stores and pharmacies, construction sites are exempt from the order to shut down, but they are being watched closely.
“Today we will be going to construction sites and enforcing that on a site-by-site basis,” said Gimenez. Some sites are doing fine, some sites are not doing fine. I’m not going to put a blanket order to close everything but those businesses and those sites that are not compliant with the order, we will shut them down.”
Local 10 News also spoke with a few people working at some of the sites visited on Tuesday.
Managers said they’re doing their best to provide places for workers to wash their hands and keep their distance.
But at least one worker, who didn’t want to be identified, said that really wasn’t the case; not enough was being done and he has actually decided to stop coming to work, until this all blows over.
If you work at a construction site and see violations or have concerns that a site or other business is not following the county order, you can call 305-4-POLICE to report it.