VIDEO: The state of COVID and construction in 2021

COVID-19 has utterly changed society, work and how we interact since lockdowns began in March 2020. As the world heads into fall 2021 the end may finally be at hand.

Construction’s fate throughout the pandemic largely depended on location and preparation.

The Canadian and global economies reeled when health and safety measures demanded a rapid and severe response, shutting down much of society and just as quickly finding new ways to work and connect.

The construction industry was no different, with rapid adoption of remote work, new technology and new health and safety protocols including distancing, masking and improved sanitation.

Some jurisdictions such as British Columbia exempted the construction industry from shutting down provided safety measures were in place while Premier Doug Ford’s Conservative government deemed some but not all construction as “necessary” work.

With the introduction of vaccines in early 2021 parts of the world were able to reclaim some sort of “normal” but slow rollouts in Canada and vaccine hesitancy in the United States makes the end of the pandemic less than conclusive for the moment.