The Illinois Asphalt Pavement Association continues to monitor the impact of coronavirus (COVID-19) on our industry. The impact of the COVID-19 outbreak remains extremely fluid and any status may change rapidly. Here are updates as of March 30, 2020:
The Construction Industry Safety Coalition (CISC), which is comprised of trade associations representing virtually every aspect of the construction industry including the National Asphalt Pavement Association, has published an Exposure Prevention, Preparedness, & Response Plan for the Construction Industry. Provided as a Microsoft Word template, the response plan can be tailored to individual companies. Also included are a training checklist, a toolbox talk, an employee notification form, and a document that identifies that the industry is an "essential" infrastructure industry amid "stay at home" orders. IAPA members are encouraged to review this document. If the response plan is used, companies may also want to review the Illinois industry best practices.
The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), an independent global health research organization at the University of Washington School of Medicine, has developed nationwide and state-specific models that hospitals, health care workers, policymakers, and the public may forecast what demands COVID-19 may place on hospital capacity and resources. The model is updated regularly as new data are available, in order to provide the most up-to-date planning tool possible. For Illinois, the model forecasts that the daily death rate will peak at 88 per day (or between 50 and 129 at 95% confidence interval) on April 16, 2020. The data being used in these forecasts come from local and national governments, hospital networks like the University of Washington, the American Hospital Association, the World Health Organization, and a range of other sources.
