the trades were dealing with bigger problems, generally construction was an essential industry, they didn't stop working during the pandemic. that being said,

the trades were dealing with bigger problems, generally construction was an essential industry, they didn't stop working during the pandemic. that being said, a lot of construction involves people in close quarters with each other, which was a major risk factor for COVID, and so there was a bit of work trying to figure out how best to get construction going and also not get all the workers sick. And there has been a worker shortfall in the trades for a while now, so it's not like refits could've significantly ramped up with nobody to work on them.