{"id":2235,"date":"2020-03-30T09:17:02","date_gmt":"2020-03-30T13:17:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/newsroom_details_pag\/construction-companies-lobby-to-keep-working\/"},"modified":"2025-08-07T09:49:19","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T13:49:19","slug":"construction-companies-lobby-to-keep-working","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/reports\/construction-companies-lobby-to-keep-working\/","title":{"rendered":"Construction companies lobby to keep working"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Construction Companies Lobby to Keep Working as Coronavirus Spreads<\/strong><br \/>\nPush for workers to be deemed essential highlights tension between economic and health goals<\/p>\n<p>The construction industry is pushing to keep projects up and running even as some begin to shut down around the country to slow the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/livecoverage\/coronavirus?mod=article_inline\">spread of the coronavirus<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In Washington, D.C., and in state capitals, industry groups are lobbying to designate construction workers as essential personnel exempt from stay-at-home orders. The industry employs 7.6 million Americans, or 5% of the workforce.<\/p>\n<p>That effort has had mixed success. Illinois and California have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/a-state-by-state-guide-to-coronavirus-lockdowns-11584749351?mod=article_inline\">deemed construction essential<\/a> but Pennsylvania and Washington state have ordered building sites closed except those deemed essential, such as health care facilities.<\/p>\n<p>New York state at first exempted construction but amended its order Friday to shut down all projects except those deemed critical, such as those involving roads, transit, bridges and health care.<\/p>\n<p>Last week, industry groups and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce wrote to President Trump, urging his administration to exempt construction workers from local quarantine orders.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/download.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><br \/>\nSigns related to the pandemic are posed at the construction site for Diageo\u2019s new bourbon distillery.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShutting down the ability of our industries to serve our nation and maintain our physical infrastructure will impact the economic viability of the entire nation, not to mention numerous businesses,\u201d they wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Their plea highlights the trade off between battling the spread of the virus and keeping the economy on track. On Tuesday, President Trump <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/trump-hopes-to-have-u-s-reopened-by-easter-despite-health-experts-guidance-11585073462?mod=article_inline\">said he hoped to have the country back at work in just two weeks<\/a>\u2014a timeline at odds with the advice of health professionals.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/download-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><br \/>\nThe construction site for a Diageo distillery In Lebanon, Ky., on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>Construction accounts for 4.1% of gross domestic product, but the impact of a nationwide shutdown would spread to manufacturers of building materials and equipment as well as to architects and engineers, said Ken Simonson, chief economist of Associated General Contractors of America, a trade group.<\/p>\n<p>While most construction sites remain open, a growing number are shutting down in response to state orders. A survey by the Associated General Contractors released Friday found that 39% of companies had projects stopped by clients or local authorities, up from 28% last week.<\/p>\n<p>As sites close, more workers will likely turn to unemployment benefits, further swelling the ranks of recipients. On Thursday, the Labor Department <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/the-long-run-of-american-job-growth-has-ended-11585215000?mod=article_inline\">reported a record 3.28 million applications<\/a> for unemployment benefits in the week ended March 21.<\/p>\n<p>The $2 trillion rescue package approved by Congress won\u2019t be enough to help the industry, the AGC said. The group wants lawmakers to spend more on infrastructure, grant relief from losses on federally funded projects and protect construction worker pension plans.<\/p>\n<p>Industry groups say construction workers are less at risk from the virus because they often work outdoors and wear protective equipment such as masks and gloves. About 13% of respondents to the AGC\u2019s latest survey said they knew of an infected person on their job site, up from 8% in last week\u2019s survey.<\/p>\n<p>North America\u2019s Building Trades Unions has joined industry groups in urging local authorities to keep sites open. Its president, Sean McGarvey, estimated that \u201ctens of thousands\u201d of its roughly 3 million members had been laid off. Legislation enacted in Congress last week gave some construction workers sick days for the first time, Mr. McGarvey said.<\/p>\n<p>On Friday, Gary LaBarbera, president of the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York, said the union would support New York state\u2019s decision to close non-essential construction.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEverybody\u2019s concerned about being out of work,\u201d Karl Pogelschek, a laborer in New York working on the overhaul of LaGuardia Airport, said before New York state\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n<p>Construction is a seasonal business that keeps many workers idle in the winter. Many had been expecting to get back to work in the coming weeks, Mr. Pogelschek said.<\/p>\n<p>At sites around the country, the epidemic is changing the rhythm of work.<\/p>\n<p>Workers who assemble at morning meetings are reminded to keep their distance from each other and asked if anyone feels sick or has been exposed to the virus, said Frank Sciame, chief executive of New York City-based Sciame Construction LLC.<\/p>\n<p>Meetings of 10 to 15 people that were typical before the pandemic have been downsized, said Stephen Gray, chief executive of Gray, an engineering, design and construction company. The Kentucky-based company has offices throughout the U.S. and some 300 active projects.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/download-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><br \/>\nThe distillery construction site. Industry groups and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have urged the Trump administration to exempt construction workers from local quarantine orders.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMost job sites that are run well are run with a high level of interaction and require people to be face to face in these trailers,\u201d said Mr. Gray. \u201cNow we\u2019re breaking up meetings, making them much smaller and cleaning these trailers up and sanitizing them more frequently.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Some in the industry say extra safety protocols are insufficient. Even before the pandemic, ensuring workers followed safety guidelines was difficult, and adding new measures probably will be tough to enforce consistently, said a construction superintendent in New York state who declined to be identified because he wasn\u2019t authorized to speak with the press.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t think that right now we should be putting guys at risk building things that are less than essential for their communities,\u201d the superintendent said.<\/p>\n<p>Keeping workers a safe distance apart involves complex choreography on a construction site as workers shift between tasks, said Steve Lesser, an attorney at Becker &#038; Poliakoff. One worker not showing up because they are quarantined or caring for someone who is sick can hold up other jobs on the project, he said.<\/p>\n<p>Delays can quickly turn a profitable project into an unprofitable one, said Richard Sussman, an attorney at Rosenberg &#038; Estis, P.C. Although most borrowers are protected from default in case of unforeseen circumstances, they still must repay principal and interest on their loans.<\/p>\n<p>And unfinished projects may pose a safety hazard, said Mr. Pogelschek, the worker at LaGuardia Airport.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou can\u2019t walk away from a trench in the street,\u201d said Mr. Pogelschek. \u201cIt\u2019s no different than doing a roof on your house. Once you start, you\u2019re going to have to finish.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Construction Companies Lobby to Keep Working as Coronavirus Spreads Push for workers to be deemed essential highlights tension between economic and health goals The construction industry is pushing to keep projects up and running even as some begin to shut down around the country to slow the spread of the coronavirus. In Washington, D.C., and&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":24835,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reports"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Construction companies lobby to keep working | Dodge Construction Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Construction companies lobby to keep working as shutdown threats loom. Read the report on industry advocacy and essential status.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/reports\/construction-companies-lobby-to-keep-working\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Construction companies lobby to keep working | Dodge Construction Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Construction companies lobby to keep working as shutdown threats loom. Read the report on industry advocacy and essential status.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/reports\/construction-companies-lobby-to-keep-working\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Dodge Construction Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DodgeData\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-03-30T13:17:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-08-07T13:49:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/HERO_NEWS_150dpi_22.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"445\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Amy Roepke\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@DodgeData\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@DodgeData\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Amy Roepke\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/reports\/construction-companies-lobby-to-keep-working\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/reports\/construction-companies-lobby-to-keep-working\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Amy Roepke\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/#\/schema\/person\/36bd01278d9ccdca5984486b4b361b97\"},\"headline\":\"Construction companies lobby to keep working\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-03-30T13:17:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-08-07T13:49:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/reports\/construction-companies-lobby-to-keep-working\/\"},\"wordCount\":1039,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/reports\/construction-companies-lobby-to-keep-working\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/HERO_NEWS_150dpi_22.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Reports\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/reports\/construction-companies-lobby-to-keep-working\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/reports\/construction-companies-lobby-to-keep-working\/\",\"name\":\"Construction companies lobby to keep working | Dodge Construction Network\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/reports\/construction-companies-lobby-to-keep-working\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/reports\/construction-companies-lobby-to-keep-working\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/HERO_NEWS_150dpi_22.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-03-30T13:17:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-08-07T13:49:19+00:00\",\"description\":\"Construction companies lobby to keep working as shutdown threats loom. Read the report on industry advocacy and essential status.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/reports\/construction-companies-lobby-to-keep-working\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/reports\/construction-companies-lobby-to-keep-working\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/reports\/construction-companies-lobby-to-keep-working\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/HERO_NEWS_150dpi_22.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/HERO_NEWS_150dpi_22.jpg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":445,\"caption\":\"HERO NEWS 150dpi 22\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/reports\/construction-companies-lobby-to-keep-working\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Construction companies lobby to keep working\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/\",\"name\":\"Dodge Construction Network\",\"description\":\"Commercial Construction Project Intel\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/#organization\"},\"alternateName\":\"Dodge Data & Analytics\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Dodge Construction Network\",\"alternateName\":\"Dodge Data & Analytics\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/DCN_Logo_Primary_TM.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/DCN_Logo_Primary_TM.svg\",\"width\":\"1024\",\"height\":\"1024\",\"caption\":\"Dodge Construction Network\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DodgeData\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/DodgeData\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/dodge-construction-network\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCAt8500vlyDN4o94uvYHIoQ\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/#\/schema\/person\/36bd01278d9ccdca5984486b4b361b97\",\"name\":\"Amy Roepke\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9462dfb223b570e4f0a987e44e9b17d8285584f5e3c866be6fd7796b083217a7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9462dfb223b570e4f0a987e44e9b17d8285584f5e3c866be6fd7796b083217a7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Amy Roepke\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.construction.com\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Construction companies lobby to keep working | Dodge Construction Network","description":"Construction companies lobby to keep working as shutdown threats loom. Read the report on industry advocacy and essential status.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/reports\/construction-companies-lobby-to-keep-working\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Construction companies lobby to keep working | Dodge Construction Network","og_description":"Construction companies lobby to keep working as shutdown threats loom. Read the report on industry advocacy and essential status.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/reports\/construction-companies-lobby-to-keep-working\/","og_site_name":"Dodge Construction Network","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DodgeData","article_published_time":"2020-03-30T13:17:02+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-08-07T13:49:19+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":445,"url":"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/HERO_NEWS_150dpi_22.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Amy Roepke","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@DodgeData","twitter_site":"@DodgeData","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Amy Roepke","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/reports\/construction-companies-lobby-to-keep-working\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/reports\/construction-companies-lobby-to-keep-working\/"},"author":{"name":"Amy Roepke","@id":"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/#\/schema\/person\/36bd01278d9ccdca5984486b4b361b97"},"headline":"Construction companies lobby to keep working","datePublished":"2020-03-30T13:17:02+00:00","dateModified":"2025-08-07T13:49:19+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/reports\/construction-companies-lobby-to-keep-working\/"},"wordCount":1039,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/reports\/construction-companies-lobby-to-keep-working\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/HERO_NEWS_150dpi_22.jpg","articleSection":["Reports"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/reports\/construction-companies-lobby-to-keep-working\/","url":"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/reports\/construction-companies-lobby-to-keep-working\/","name":"Construction companies lobby to keep working | Dodge Construction Network","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/reports\/construction-companies-lobby-to-keep-working\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/reports\/construction-companies-lobby-to-keep-working\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/HERO_NEWS_150dpi_22.jpg","datePublished":"2020-03-30T13:17:02+00:00","dateModified":"2025-08-07T13:49:19+00:00","description":"Construction companies lobby to keep working as shutdown threats loom. Read the report on industry advocacy and essential status.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/reports\/construction-companies-lobby-to-keep-working\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.construction.com\/reports\/construction-companies-lobby-to-keep-working\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/reports\/construction-companies-lobby-to-keep-working\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/HERO_NEWS_150dpi_22.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/HERO_NEWS_150dpi_22.jpg","width":1280,"height":445,"caption":"HERO NEWS 150dpi 22"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/reports\/construction-companies-lobby-to-keep-working\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Construction companies lobby to keep working"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/","name":"Dodge Construction Network","description":"Commercial Construction Project Intel","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/#organization"},"alternateName":"Dodge Data & Analytics","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/#organization","name":"Dodge Construction Network","alternateName":"Dodge Data & Analytics","url":"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/DCN_Logo_Primary_TM.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/DCN_Logo_Primary_TM.svg","width":"1024","height":"1024","caption":"Dodge Construction Network"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DodgeData","https:\/\/x.com\/DodgeData","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/dodge-construction-network\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCAt8500vlyDN4o94uvYHIoQ"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/#\/schema\/person\/36bd01278d9ccdca5984486b4b361b97","name":"Amy Roepke","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9462dfb223b570e4f0a987e44e9b17d8285584f5e3c866be6fd7796b083217a7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9462dfb223b570e4f0a987e44e9b17d8285584f5e3c866be6fd7796b083217a7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Amy Roepke"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.construction.com"]}]}},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/www.construction.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/HERO_NEWS_150dpi_22.jpg",1280,445,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.construction.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/HERO_NEWS_150dpi_22-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.construction.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/HERO_NEWS_150dpi_22-300x104.jpg",300,104,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.construction.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/HERO_NEWS_150dpi_22-1024x356.jpg",1024,356,true],"gform-image-choice-sm":["https:\/\/www.construction.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/HERO_NEWS_150dpi_22.jpg",300,104,false],"gform-image-choice-md":["https:\/\/www.construction.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/HERO_NEWS_150dpi_22.jpg",400,139,false],"gform-image-choice-lg":["https:\/\/www.construction.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/HERO_NEWS_150dpi_22.jpg",600,209,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Amy Roepke","author_link":"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/author\/amy-roepke\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Construction Companies Lobby to Keep Working as Coronavirus Spreads Push for workers to be deemed essential highlights tension between economic and health goals The construction industry is pushing to keep projects up and running even as some begin to shut down around the country to slow the spread of the coronavirus. In Washington, D.C., and...","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2235\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}