A sparkling new Australian embassy in view of the White House; the big-budget Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge near Nationals Park; a mixed-use development along the U Street NW corridor that will feature housing, offices, and a museum; a rowhome being flipped into condos in Park View. These are just some of the construction projects still ongoing in the city today despite the overarching slowdown caused by the pandemic.

Residents across the region are being required to stay at home starting this week under government orders meant to stop the novel coronavirus from spreading. Yet, those in the construction industry are still showing up to work on buildings, roads, and other projects large and small.

That’s because the orders classify construction as an “essential activity” during the outbreak, alongside providing healthcare and selling food. And as long as the local development industry remains strong enough, contractors are striving to meet the demand for new homes, infrastructure, and renovations.

This business-as-largely-usual situation has put many area laborers in a tough spot: Work to put food on the table and risk exposure to COVID-19, or voluntarily quit and lose employer-provided health insurance and the chance to apply for unemployment benefits.

“Anytime I mention it, I’m made to feel ungrateful,” says Matt, a construction worker in Northern Virginia who asked that only his first name be used because he fears reprisal from his employers. “A lot of people will say ‘at least you have a job, at least you’re getting paid right now.’ Basically it’s one of those things where ‘if you don’t like it, you don’t have to come into work.'”

The pressure to keep grinding away is likely even more acute for undocumented and temporary workers, who may have little recourse to survive other than that offered by their jobs.

“[Our members] are by no means wealthy people,” says Dennis Desmond, the business manager at LiUNA! Local 11, a commercial construction workers’ union that has roughly 3,000 members in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. “They are not in a position where they can sit at home and telecommute from their laptop computers and cell phones. They do not have a job that’s going to pay them wages and benefits when they’re not working.”

Matt says he’s currently on a project that involves more than 10 workers who are coming within six feet of one another—effectively violating the general rule of thumb for maintaining social distance—given the layout of the job site. While the company he’s working for encouraged those on the project to keep apart as much as possible and wash their hands, he says the latter hasn’t been easy without a dedicated washing station or ample hand sanitizer on site. The typical work boots and cotton gloves he was furnished don’t seem sufficient against the deadly virus.

“Emotionally, it’s very trying,” he adds, his voice quivering. “I’ve just been very stressed, I’m having a hard time sleeping and eating. I’m more scared to come home at the end of the day because I don’t know what’s on me and I don’t know if I’m bringing that back and I’m going to get my whole family sick.”

Dozens of doctors, nurses, police officers, and firefighters have already contracted COVID-19. But unlike the work of first responders, not all construction is necessary for ensuring public safety, Matt points out: Hospitals and bridges are in a different category than the private townhomes and commercial buildings that are still being constructed during the ongoing crisis.

By contrast, in jurisdictions including New York state and Boston, “non-essential” construction has temporarily been suspended because of the pandemic. In New York, for example, only “[e]mergency construction, hospital construction, infrastructure and transportation projects, and affordable housing will be allowed to continue, but all other work must stop immediately,” Gothamist reported last week.

Construction companies and industry leaders who have projects in the region insist they’re taking precautions to keep their workers safe and slow the spread of the disease, including by providing sanitary equipment. They say they’re also used to prioritizing safety, thanks to strict occupational rules and the nature of construction work.

Cherie Pleasant, the CEO of the Associated General Contractors of Metropolitan D.C., a trade association, says her organization has sent notices to its dozens of members with updated safety guidelines related to coronavirus. She says the building industry is in a good position to adapt to expert advice as needed throughout the pandemic.

“We’re familiar with changing conditions on job sites all the time,” says Pleasant. Enforcing social distance on a construction site is not all that different from doing so in a grocery store or other environment, she argues. “A lot of it’s common sense.”

That doesn’t mean such protocols are always adhered to, though. Some workers at construction sites in Southeast didn’t appear to be following certain COVID-19 guidance, WUSA9 reported after visiting the sites on March 30. And on Wednesday, several District residents privately told DCist they were concerned about projects underway in their vicinity, observing that they didn’t witness hand-washing stations or social distancing when passing by.

An online petition launched Thursday calls for Mayor Muriel Bowser to “make ‘non-essential’ construction non-essential” and permit only “critical infrastructure” that has to do with healthcare, transportation, utilities, and the shelter system. A spokesperson for Bowser says the administration is abiding by national guidance and advising construction companies and crews to exercise caution in conducting their business.

Most of the dozen-plus construction companies that DCist contacted Wednesday didn’t immediately respond to inquiries or declined to comment. But a spokesperson for Bethesda, Md.-based Clark Construction pointed to a recent statement the company posted on its website, which says Clark is working to minimize infection risks at its sites by, among other things, encouraging frequent hand-washing and requiring sick employees to stay home. The company is also urging its workers to stay six feet apart from each other “to the greatest extent possible,” in accordance with federal health guidelines.

A representative for Fort Myer Construction, a D.C.-based company known for paving the roads, said in an email Thursday that its approximately 1,000 employees are working to make sure “the public has continued unfettered access to medical care, utilities, water, and other resources during this unprecedented pandemic.” Marc Mandel, the company’s chief operating officer and general counsel, added that Fort Myer is requiring workers to “mitigate the transmission of germs” by covering their coughs and sneezes, sanitizing tools often, minimizing equipment sharing, staggering work schedules, and reducing crew sizes.

“We are constantly reevaluating each task, performing hazard assessments, and determining the minimum number [of] individuals required to perform tasks safely,” said Mandel. “We have been fortunate to have no reported cases of the virus to date and nearly a zero-absenteeism rate, thus far.”

A spokesperson for Balfour Beatty, a U.K.-based infrastructure firm with projects across the Mid-Atlantic, pointed to many of these same strategies, saying the company has “an immense responsibility” to keep its projects going where possible while modifying practices to allow for social distancing.

“The practicalities of how to implement social distancing in the field are complex and our workforce is committed [to] meeting these needs knowing that each decision has an impact on not only the team’s ability to deliver and our production flow, but the health and wellbeing of everyone,” she said.

In the District, work continues apace on all manner of construction projects, from home renovations to embassy redevelopments. Construction can happen on Mondays through Saturdays between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., according to a spokesperson for D.C.’s Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, which is responsible for policing illegal construction. (In some cases, special permits are required.) The spokesperson says DCRA is investigating reports of illegal construction as normal, though the number of calls it’s received about such activity has actually declined somewhat over the past few weeks.

In a statement, the agency cites safety guidelines for construction sites that it recently published in conjunction with D.C. health officials. In part, the guidelines say “[c]ompanies need to take proactive measures to ensure their personnel do not report to work sick; examples include screening employees and provision for use of sick leave. Subcontractors should be encouraged to do the same. … Any employees reporting to work sick should be sent home.”

But the pandemic isn’t just a health problem for local construction workers—it’s also increasingly likely to become an economic one. Should a recession hit the area and financing for construction projects be pulled back as the overall business climate contracts, laborers may face layoffs and pay cuts of the kind that have devastated the region’s hospitality industry. (In March, the District’s chief financial officer estimated that the unemployment rate could reach 20 percent.)

Desmond, of LiUNA! Local 11, says he doesn’t know of any of his members who have tested positive for COVID-19 yet. Although the union has been dropping off sanitary supplies—such as hand sanitizer, gloves, and bottles of disinfectant—at job sites, he says it’s been a “day-by-day hunt” to supplement what general contractors are providing directly to the workers, many of whom are Latinx or immigrants.

And as in other contexts, effective social distancing among laborers relies on everyone doing it. “I think it’s a bit of an honor system, in a way, because the workers, some of them are not even in public view, and you’ve given them instructions, and hopefully there’s a foreman around to supervise things,” notes Desmond. “But at the end of the day, you’re relying on a voluntary compliance.”