Rebuilding continues on the ridge but with coronavirus safety protocols

Despite the coronavirus pandemic the resulting "stay at home" orders and non-essential businesses closed work to rebuild Paradise continues.

New this morning - despite the coronavirus pandemic, the resulting "stay at home orders and non- essential businesses closed... work to rebuild paradise continues... action news now reporter jafet serrato is live in butte county... jafet - what safety steps are these crews taking?

Right now only essential businesses are supposed to be open and construction is one of those businesses.

I visited paradise to see how it's protecting these essential workers.

(nats: bulldozer operating) the coronavirus isn't stopping rebuilding on the ridge.

(nats: car on driveway) "we were awarded a safety grant for this intersection to install a traffic signal" marc mattox is the towns' public works director.

"we consider it even post fire, still critical to recovery and the long term infrastructure of the town" its an essential job - but the coronavirus has changed how crews work.

"we've got people wearing cloth masks, or labeling shovels or rakes making sure that no one is sharing between employees on the job site" (standup:) with fewer cars on the road it usually means projects like these can speed up, but with coronavirus precautions, mattox tells me it could actually delay the completion of this work.

"right now we are scheduled for about two and a half months and it could be three to four months for construction" (nats) another challenge - a possible labor shortage if a worker gets sick.

"we've been working with our contractors.

They need to keep us informed if there is any sort of infection that is confirmed with their staff" mattox says the town is open to stopping work if needed but for now they'll keep working on putting up a new signal on black olive drive and the skyway in paradise.

I also asked mattox if the price of this project would increase because of the virus - he says they do not think so considering they made a bid on this project back in 2015.

In butte county jafet serrato action news now coverage you can count on!

The project costs 800- thousand dollars, funding by a grant.

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