Updated April 23
Some Island builders and tradespeople are heading back to work Monday following a construction moratorium that was put in place a month ago.
Workers are required to follow a strict set of guidelines created by a working group of health agents, building community representatives, and others. The guidelines will be enforced by town building officials and boards of health.
Under phase one, up to two landscapers, carpenters, painters, or tradespeople would be allowed on a construction site or worksite at one time. Construction sites are defined as new construction, renovation, demolition, or addition of a structure. Worksites are defined as work that is not construction such as landscaping.
Signage for proper hand washing, running water, and hand sanitizer are all required at sites. Workers would also have to maintain proper social distancing practices.
Shared surfaces such as tools, door handles, bathrooms, and gates would have to be disinfected at the end of the day.
Construction sites are specifically required to have a hand washing station with water, soap, paper towels on a holder, and a trash bin. They must also have at least one bathroom.
If working with two people, workers would have to maintain a six-foot distance. All workers would have to wear gloves while on work sites except when not feasible.
The guidelines also call for a strict daily report. Every construction site must post a wellness questionnaire sign in and sign out sheet. Worksite workers would have to verbally complete the questionnaire with their supervisor prior to starting work each day.
The questionnaire confirms that employees don’t have flu-like symptoms, have not had contact with a person diagnosed with COVID-19. Workers must also travel to work in separate vehicles.
Construction sites will also have to be inspected by the building inspector prior to construction. Violations of the guidelines would result in a fine of up to $1,000 and suspended work.
A set of frequently asked questions has been put together as well for tradespeople getting back to work. Construction guidelines are also available in Portugese.
In a teleconference call Wednesday with the Martha’s Vineyard Builders Association and other tradespeople, Martha’s Vineyard Hospital CEO Denise Schepici stressed continuing proper social distancing, hand washing, and avoiding non essential travel.
Schepici said that Boston is in its peak for the number of confirmed cases and that an Island peak is on its way.
“I am really worried about June, July, and August when we have more influx of visitors here who could be carriers,” Schepici said. “I firmly don’t believe that we’ve seen all that we’re going to see yet and we may see a very delayed surge here on the Island.”
As workers head back to work, E.C. Cottle’s lumberyard is set to reopen. Starting April 27, Cottle’s three locations will be open Monday through Friday. The West Tisbury location will be open 7 to 4 pm and the Edgartown and Airport locations 7:30 to 4:30 pm.
Customers are allowed into the lumberyard if they are masked or have a cloth covering their face. Customers are prohibited from entering Cottle’s buildings during phase one of the guidelines. All customers and employees must maintain a six foot distance from each other at all times. Payment can be made through credit card and on-account charges.
For more information visit Cottle’s website.
Updated to add information on Cottle’s lumberyard.
Thank you for the valuable information and links. The second link is incorrect.
:-^
Cottle’s needs to update their information regarding policies while shopping on their website
Thank God all the hand wringing and the sky is falling mentality is over. We can do this if everyone is careful.
The onus should fall on the general contractor to handle all this and certainly not the subcontractors.
Thank you for putting this out in Portuguese. Now maybe everyone will get it.
Your self-absorption is so complete that I don’t think it occurs to you how many people are not in the trades and have lost their job/income/business But hey, as long as you can go back to work, your hand wringing is over, unless, of course, you pick up a deadly disease because you and those you work with went back to work too soon. If there was an award for selfishness, you’d win by a landslide.
Wow Jackie, what a bitter and hostile response to a positive comment. Where in “we can do this if everyone is careful” did you come to the conclusion that this person is self-absorbed?? Sounds like you are living in an alternate reality where people who are okay with working under these very prudent new guidelines are “selfish.” Perhaps they’re just eager to be able to pay the bills or get back to feeding their families? Many workers in the trades do not qualify for the same financial assistance as small businesses and didn’t even qualify for unemployment until this week. Let’s not turn against our neighbors because some are able to resume work. This is a careful step forward for our entire community. We are all in this together!
“Thank God all the hand wringing and the sky is falling mentality is over.” When you lose someone whose last gasping breath was drawn while alone in a hospital room, then you can tell me how positive it is forget about all those in mourning, who indeed are wringing their hands in sorrow and loss. Tired of Viewfromnowhere’s selfish posts that ignore literally everyone else who is sacrificing and out of work, and worse, sick and dying.Why don’t workers in the trades who don’t qualify for financial assistance get an essential job, cleaning floors at the hospital or working in a food prep place to feed the family temporarily? Essential workers are needed and social distancing works. Will trades workers be coming back now from off-island, too? This is not a careful step when there are many who can’t be trusted to follow any guidelines, let only walk down a supermarket aisle swiftly and according to the directional arrow. We are not in this together when people ignore what is best for all and only concern themselves with self.
Island_gardener,
Great cogent points and flawless unintended undressing. A-
:-^
This is like a Trump University graduate handing out grades. Everyone is eager to get back to work and pay their bills. It’s a failing grade to suggest otherwise, and sheer nonsense to applaud it. Dismissing the real worries of a real threat shows lack of caring, lack of responsibility, and a lack of knowledge— You get a failing grade, Barrel.
Comments like this will not age well. We are still in the early stages of this pandemic.There are no vaccines or treatments on the horizon.The attitude that we are past it and can get back to work is wrong.It could be years before this is past.Even then, the effects will last generations.
We can do this if everyone is careful.
We can do this if everyone is not careful.
No matter how careful we are more will die than if we do not do it.
We all have our own death tolerance elasticity.
When it is people we do not know it is like a rubberband.
If it is our grandparents, parents, spouses, siblings, children and grandchildren it has all the give of steel chain.
Wait a minute, construction sites will have to be pre-inspected. It sounds like another ploy to get more inspection fees out of a job to me. Where does it end?
We have to wait long enough for an inspection on a good day. Now we have to wait until an inspector deems the job acceptable? This should be a hoot.
Take a number and wait in line for the pre-inspection to happen.
Good luck having everyone wait. Too many people have been working all through this without any repercussions. Why would this matter to them?
It ends where there is absolutely no inspection and everyone dies.
Inspectors make sure your work meets minimum standards.
They also have a responsibility to make your work site meets minimum standards.
Maybe you can be trusted to make sure your work and work site meets minimum standards.
Maybe not.
We know we can not trust that guy from Oaks Bluffs who works so cheap.
He is why we have inspectors.
We also can’t trust the creep who threatened that 100s of tradespeople would go hang out in liquor stores, supermarkets, and pharmacies if they were not allowed to go back to work NOW. It only takes one, and we’ve got a lot more than one who can’t be trusted.
So many still unanswered questions here.
If you have to verbally fill out a wellness questionnaire daily, how does that work? Does he meet you at the entry point of the jobsites? Does he count as one of the two workers? Can you do it over the phone?
What about deliveries from lumberyards and other suppliers? Does one of the original two workers have to leave? What about some of the contractors that have large crews. How do you decide who gets to work? The list goes on…
“We can do this if everyone is careful.”
Precisely. This is simply the dawn of a long drawn-out process in which
everyone, in all walks of work and life, get back to normal. Those with
angry, sour and immature attitudes, feel free to stay stuck in your
self-made succinylcholine quagmire. Help or move out of the way.
Don’t sit idly complaining! Waaah…..
:-^
I kind of figured I would touch off a firestorm of whiners still destined to hold on to the panic mode.
My statement about inspections was not about avoiding them to do shoddy work. The island is notorious for taking forever to do an inspection once you officially request one. I am a licensed professional tradesman, this is a fact. I just can not see paying the town more money or getting in the line to have the job open up again. If there are 50 building permits in any particular town, how many inspections would be done a day to open jobs up? What about existing inspection requests? It sounds like some added time just to get moving again.
I cheerfully suggest those who are too media brainwashed and too afraid to have contact with the outside world stay where they are. Keep the blanket over your head. See you in the fall, maybe.
I’m confused viewfromhere, where does it say the towns will be charging to do the back to work inspections to certify all safety measures are in place? While I didn’t read that anywhere, I did read in the back to work guidelines that if you submit your back to work paperwork and request an inspection, and the inspector doesn’t show in 2 business days, that you can start work. This 48 hour rule is the same for regular building inspections. Maybe people should educate themselves on what’s actually required and ask questions of their local officials if they aren’t sure.
I was wondering the same thing. I haven’t read anywhere that we’ll be charged for site inspections. I guess there isn’t enough grease for some squeaky wheels.
Nice squeak
Exactly the type of “professional” I hope I never hire here.
Viewfromhere, in case you haven’t been watching/reading the news Massachusetts is on fire with the virus right now with the third most confirmed cases in the country and 2,360 deaths as of yesterday. All the time out of work, money lost and isolating to date is about to be undermined by prematurely removing the construction moratorium to soon. > https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html Removing the moratorium will only incentivize day workers and second home owners to start pouring in, then its all down hill from there. Four weeks from Monday or sooner and we will be right back where we started but much worse off. Buckle up, it’s going to be a long painful ride! Quote of the day
“As several states — including South Carolina, Tennessee and Florida — rush to reopen businesses, the sudden relaxation of restrictions will supply new targets for the coronavirus that has kept the United States largely closed down, according to experts, math models and the basic rules that govern infectious diseases. “The math is unfortunately pretty simple. It’s not a matter of whether infections will increase but by how much,” said Jeffrey Shaman, a leading epidemiologist at Columbia University. Closing America was hard. But it came with one simple instruction: Everyone stay at home. There are no easy answers for the phase that comes next, especially with a continued lack of testing, contact tracing and detailed guidance from federal health agencies, disease experts said. Instead, every state will conduct its own improvised experiment with thousands of lives in the balance. https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/04/22/reopening-america-states-coronavirus/
viewfromhere the math is very simple.
More human interaction = more human deaths.
What is your death tolerance?
50 professional tradesman
100 natives
200 Islanders?
400 washashores?
800 long seasonals?
1600 summer dinks?
3200 Julys
6400 Augusts
12800 Weekers
25600 Weekenders
51200 day trippers
10240 drunk daytrippers
1 of your family members, which one?
The more contact with the outside world the more death.
How much is too much?
In your family?
Here is the irony. The construction trades follow all these rules and then the owners they are building for all show up and don’t have to follow any rules. A guess a virus knows who the owners are?
Facts we have to face: We had the Asian flu, the Hong Kong flu, SARS, MERS, the regular flu which strikes and kills every year; with the exception of the regular flu no vaccines for any of the others. The regular flu vaccines do not work 100%, ever. We need to adapt and do it as there will surely be another virus down the pipeline…who doubts that? We have to go by past experience which tells us yes, there will be other viruses. If we wish to completely shut down the country every time a new virus comes along, let us just throw in the towel now and be done with it. It is called adaptation, people. We adapt or we do not survive….
I think you are missing critical information. Take SARS for example, a total of 8,098 people worldwide became sick with SARS during the 2003 outbreak. Of these, 774 died. In the United States, only eight persons were laboratory-confirmed as SARS cases. There were no SARS-related deaths in the United States.
To put that in perspective, COVID has killed 51,000 Americans to date.
This current pandemic is an entirely different beast. You’d be better to inform yourself on these illnesses before commenting about how we should just adapt or die.
Vanadium, thank you for your comment that I am not informed. I am informed, I am one of the compromised. I have self isolated since March 6, no exceptions. Saying we need to adapt is a fact. There will be more of these viruses coming at us. We need to organize a way to deal with them or we will cease to exist. That is what i was saying and your jumping to conclusions that I am not informed is doing a disservice to me. Thank you for your forbearance. I wish you well.
Covid-19 is deadlier than flu. In less than 2 months, more than 50,000 Americans have died.
Don’t 60,000+ people die of the flu every year. They don’t count?
So, economic euthanasia? augustawynd decides when life should end, who will live and who will die, and how they will perish. What you mistake for adaptation is nothing less than homicide.
Bulkington, we all have to face facts. We are not going to vanquish this virus; we have not vanquished others. We can mitigate. I am not deciding anything, the virus decides. Hurling murderous accusations against me is nonproductive and sophomoric. I wrote that we must adapt. That we have done since the beginning of time. Entities that did not, simply did not survive.
It is one thing to deny a homeowner access to the property they have bought and pay taxes on and where a contractor can work on property he does not own.
Just to be clear….you support or you do not support seasonal property owners being able to use their homes this coming summer season?
Our small machine shop (46 people, 2 shifts), have not stopped working at all during this time of pandemic crisis. We wash our hands, use hand sanitizer, 3 times a day someone goes around and sprays all of the known ‘touch points’ around the shop, and most of us wear surgical masks. Amazingly, no one has even had a cold in the last month. Work smart, live smart. It can be done, we do it here every day.
You have also been very lucky.
There are many people who have taken much higher levels of precaution who are now very dead.
You do not base policy for the masses on anecdotal ‘science’.
Only the President can do that……
Why are you dising Oak Bluffs?
Its not selfish to want to take care of his livelihood and family.
Is this Islanders Talk?
I’m not a tradesmen, but a large amount of my family and 1000’s of others are here on MV.Social distancing on a job sit, is nearly impossible.The virus is creating a lot of catch 22’s, if you don’t work and wait out the virus. Then if you don’t have enough savings to live off of, until the virus is wrangled. You run the risk the of loosing your home, property etc. Or you head back to work and take your chances while attempting to follow the guidelines.
On a job site, which I was lucky enough to be apart of many as a kid. How in the world are workers going to be conscious of their work and also be aware of following the guidelines. It’s going to create a lot of havoc and stress on a job site and things can go bad quickly.I just don’t see how social distancing can be properly maintained on a job site, it’s going to be extremely tough to do.Unless they section off different parts of the site and the workers do there best to stay in certain sections, just ideas.
So you wouldnt be happy if you could go back to work Jackie? Whos paying your bills? People should not be condemned for being happy. We are all aware of the sickness and death but we have a right to be happy in the midst of trouble, that is living/ your attitude and constant comments are not life giving, they are joy and life sucking poison…. toxic.
Jackie,
Lacking clarity. C+
“Everyone is eager to get back to work and pay their bills. It’s a failing grade to suggest otherwise,..”
Thank you.
My dear, you are barking up the wrong tree if you feel your words here are going to slow the opening of the island. As I have stated, I feel we should open up at as slow a pace as possible. I will do what our officials here, say
and allow.
In the interim, may I suggest a full face respirator for you? Be prepared. Be careful.
If you really did care about this, you would take your concerns to the right people. The ones who are opening this place up, this early. Capice?
Jackie, I want you to know that it is just wondrous here in the State Forest right now. What a day. Enjoy.
Please pardon any grammatical inconsistencies and/or spelling errors.
I am pulled over, on the Red Trail, for just a second, whilst I respond and have a glorious drink of water from my well water.
Anyone patronizing enough to address a woman he does not know as “my dear” automatically gets kicked out of class, sent to the principal, and cannot return until he brings a note from his mother promising that her badly behaved boy understands. Capice? Oh, you get an F.
“Anyone patronizing enough to address a woman he does not know as “my dear”
As I have alluded to before, we really need to work on your reading comprehension. The way I couched the term, “my dear“, was in no way patronizing.! ????
“A woman he does not know…”
You definitely need to work on your accuracy, as well.
I wish for you, each and every day you will be less angry than the day before.
It is not healthy to constantly be consumed with anger. At least you are venting. Or attempting to….
Stay safe and try to be more reasonable.
Hope this helps. :-^
I wish I had checked my posting for errors before I sent it!
“Anyone patronizing enough to address a woman he does not know as ‘my dear’…”
As I have alluded to before, we really need to work on your reading comprehension. The way I couched the term, “my dear“, was in no way patronizing! ????
“A woman he does not know…”
You definitely need to work on your accuracy, as well.
I wish for you, each and every day you will be less angry than the day before. It is not healthy to constantly be consumed with self-admitted anger. At least you are venting. Or attempting to….
Stay safe and try to be more reasonable.
Hope this helps. :-^
Harvard University scientists found in healthy people simply recalling an angry experience from the past caused a six hour dip in levels of the antibody immunoglobulin A which is the first line of defense. Dr Aiken, Wake University School of Medicine, states that repressed anger is associated with heart disease. Anger ups your stroke risk. Important information from the scientific community.
Science says: It’s time to start easing the lockdowns
https://nypost.com/2020/04/26/science-says-its-time-to-start-easing-the-coronavirus-lockdowns/
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