Pittsburgh employees to resume outside work, but shutdown continues amid pandemic

Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto will ease some restrictions on city employees starting Friday, but the mayor warned that the public should not expect a complete reopening of the city as the coronavirus lingers.

The city will permit outside construction work under strict guidelines by employees in the Department of Public Works, Mobility and Infrastructure and the Department of Permits, Licenses and Inspections. The move coincides with Gov. Tom Wolf’s announcement that general construction activity can begin Friday across the state.

Peduto said he expects a second wave of the coronavirus and would rely on the advice of federal, state and county health officials before lifting other restrictions.

“We announced today that many of our outdoor workers will be going back to work as soon as tomorrow, and even in that we’re following the CDC’s strict guidelines,” Peduto said in a teleconference Thursday. “We’re putting workers on shifts in order to minimize any gathering of workers, understanding that outside can be as dangerous as inside.”

The mayor noted that America is far from developing a vaccine to covid-19.

“I just don’t want to give anybody false hope in assuming that we’re going to be able to have a vaccine readily available and this will just go away,” he said. “The CDC has provided us with the information that we will not see a vaccine until at the earliest at the end of the year.”

Peduto said the Pittsburgh region has had a lower rate of infection and death than other metropolitan areas across the country. He attributed the success to residents observing guidance on social distancing and remaining at home.

“We’re on the backside of the curve,” he said. “There’s all indications that over the course of the next 28 days, which is two life cycles of the virus, that we will see a continuation of the lessening of the amount of hospitalizations and fatalities due to his virus and that’s simply due to the people of Pittsburgh and southwestern Pennsylvania.”

City employees will follow the following protocols when they’re back on the job:

• Health screenings at the start of each shift.
• Workers will maintain 6 feet between all staff and will wear gloves and masks or face coverings.
• The city will provide hand washing stations, hand sanitizer and portable toilets at job sites and regularly sanitize shared trucks and equipment.