KANSAS CITY, Kan. — There are now 10 confirmed COVID-19 cases at a Kansas City, Kansas construction site.
Multiple workers from the Donnelly College site claim Mark One Electric denied quarantine requests from its employees.
According to multiple Mark One employees who didn't wish to be identified out of fear of losing their jobs, 10 workers from that company went to their foreman Friday, April 10, the day the site's general contractor Excel Construction, revealed the first positive COVID-19 case from a worksite employee.
The workers tell the 41 Action News I-Team when they asked about a self-quarantine, the foreman relayed a message from Mark One President Rosana Privitera Biondo.
"She's saying if you remove yourself from the job, you can not and will not get unemployment," the foreman told Mark One workers at the Donnelly site. "She said she wants everyone to continue working. She wants everyone to continue getting a paycheck. That's the bottom line."
The 41 Action News Investigators have reached out to Biondo mutiple times beginning last Thursday.
So far, she hasn't responded.
Now Excel confirms four of the 10 positive COVID-19 cases from the Donnelly College site are Mark One employees.
"If there are companies out there that don't have the best interest of their workers at heart, I don't want to work with those people in the future," Donnelly College President Monsignor Stuart Swetland said.
That work site where a 72,000 square-foot academic building is under construction looked dramatically different this past Wednesday from the first time the 41 Action News I-Team visited this past Monday, April 20.
The previous Monday, which Excel President Jerry Katlin says was a transition day to mandatory mask wearing, many of the workers didn't wear them, even after seven people who worked at the site tested positive for COVID-19.
All the workers on Wednesday had masks and were using them, with maybe the exception of a smoke break.
In addition to the now 10 positive cases, as many as 50 people have worked at the site at one time.
"Shut down has definitely been discussed. It's an option that is still on the table," Katlin said.
But so far, work continues.
The ultimate decision maker for the construction site is Monsignor Swetland.
"Medical experts tell us that it's not necessary to shut down, they don't recommend we shut down," he said.
But Monsignor Swetland also said he told his own Donnelly workers if they're in direct contact with someone with the virus, to self-quarantine for 14 days.
It didn't happen at the construction site after workers learned of the first positive case Friday, April 10.
According to Excel, since March 1, twelve different companies or subcontractors have worked at the Donnelly College site.
Only one of them, Temp-Con Heating and Cooling, quarantined all their workers for a week after the first positive case April 10.
"That's the only one that has formally notified us that they were going to quarantine, that's correct," Katlin said.
Additionally Katlin said after checking local laws, Excel granted Temp-Con's request to have their employees work late nights to avoid subcontractors from other companies working for further virus protection at the Donnelly site.
Temp-Con President Luke Chambers declined comment.
However, a Temp-Con employee, who didn't wish to be identified, said his company's decision making process may have saved lives.
Unfortunately, that same employee is recovering from coronavirus and also worked at the Carl Bruce Middle School construction site in KCK as he was getting sick.
A spokeswoman for that site's general contractor J.E. Dunn said that company was notified of the case Monday, April 20.
She also said PPE is required at the site.
And she said, although local authorities haven't required masks, their use is encouraged.
But when the 41 Action News I-Team went to the Carl Bruce Middle School construction site last Wednesday, not a single worker was wearing a mask.
On Saturday, the Donnelly College work site went through it's third disinfecting since the first positive COVID-19 case April 10.
The hope is the 10 virus cases from Donnelly site workers haven't spread further into the community.
"That's possible with any positive explosion, yes," Monsignor Swetland said.
The Unified Government Public Health Department has offered recommendations to keep the Donnelly site as safe as possible.
But Chief Epidemiologist Elizabeth Groenweghe said the health department doesn't send people to investigate outbreak sites due to virus exposure concerns.
"We're not checking it or enforcing those recommendations, they're just recommendations on how to prevent the spread of the virus," Groenweghe said.
While the health department isn't recommending a shutdown, two workers currently in quarantine with COVID-19 both say closing the Donnelly site for two weeks and keeping the workers home for that period is the best way to stop the spread.
When the 41 Action News Investigators asked Monsignor Swetland if getting his project done on time or the community's health was more important, he said, "Well obviously that's a false dichotomy. It wouldn't be good for all those people who would go to, more than likely, just go to other job sites."
Katlin said it's a delicate balance between keeping the workers safe and keeping employees in essential businesses employed.
So far, Katlin and Monsignor Swetland have decided to keep the job going.
When the 41 Action News Investigators asked Katlin what's going to tip the balance, he replied, "A governmental agency that requires us to shut the job site down."
Katlin says the most recent tenth positive case was for a drywall worker who didn't have any symptoms.
He said the worker was given an antibody test because he has a child with a compromised immune system.
If the project goes forward as planned, it's supposed to be completed by late July or early August.
