The North Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters on Thursday evening directed all of its members to stop working on construction sites in Massachusetts from April 6 “until it is safe to do so.”

Public construction has continued in Massachusetts while many other fields have shut down to allow workers to stay home and away from possible coronavirus exposures. Recent changes to the state’s list of “essential services” allowed to remain in normal operation during the emergency have now limited construction largely to housing, healthcare and infrastructure projects.

In a letter to construction industry partners Thursday, NASRCC Executive Secretary-Treasurer Thomas Flynn wrote that contractors have been “unable to effectively establish and maintain” social distancing at job sites.

“In recent days as the number of COVID-19 confirmed cases and deaths has dramatically increased, it has become apparent that working on construction sites in Massachusetts is abnormally dangerous, and that continuing to work on construction sites poses and immediate threat of harm to the health and safety of my members and the public,” Flynn wrote.

Flynn said the order does not apply to construction of facilities being built to address the coronavirus pandemic.

The announcement comes after the Massachusetts Building Trades Council called on Gov. Charlie Baker to suspend all construction projects, with the exception of limited infrastructure work and work on healthcare facilities, following a dust-up between the governor and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and Somerville Mayor Joe Curtatone over local construction bans enacted by both cities last month.