Latest COVID-19 Headlines
All the headlines from our COVID-19 Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Firms’ Employee Benefit Offerings Reflect Pandemic-Reshuffled Priorities
Oct 9 2020 // During the past year, there is a good chance that you and your priorities changed significantly. The things you used to think were important are not so important anymore. And issues you did not even think about before are...
How Coronavirus Is Changing Claims, Risks, Work, Habits, Supply Chains and More
Oct 7 2020 // The magnitude of the COVID-19 pandemic as an economic loss events is unprecedented for companies and insurers alike and claims trends and risk exposures are likely to evolve in both the mid- and long-term as a result of...
Children of Deceased Tyson Worker in Iowa Allege Lax COVID-19 Safety
Oct 7 2020 // The children of a Tyson Foods worker who died of the coronavirus in April have filed a lawsuit claiming his plant took few safety precautions before he and others became infected in Iowa’s first major outbreak. Pedro...
North Carolina Sets Oct. 31 Continuing Education Deadline After COVID Delay
Oct 7 2020 // All licensed insurance producers and adjusters operating in North Carolina with a continuing education compliance period that ended in February, March, April, May and June 2020 must complete the state mandated CE...
Hollywood’s Insurer Braces for Claims Due to COVID-Related Movie, TV Shutdowns
Oct 6 2020 // Allianz SE, Europe’s largest insurer, is bracing for a flood of claims after movie and television studios were forced to curtail production during lockdown. A unit of Allianz, which says it’s the largest...
Allianz CEO Cautions European Governments on Spending for Coronavirus Recovery
Oct 6 2020 // Allianz CEO Oliver Baete said on Tuesday that European governments needed to be careful about spending record amounts on the COVID-19 crisis as many ordinary people would be angry when they were handed such a vast...
Georgia Extends Virus State of Emergency Until November
Oct 5 2020 // Georgia’s governor extended his emergency rules regarding COVID-19 again Wednesday as the state surpassed 7,000 deaths from the respiratory illness. Gov. Brian Kemp extended the underlying state of emergency that...
Pandemic Economic Uncertainty Could See Insurers Buying, Partnering with Insurtechs
Oct 5 2020 // Insurance carriers could increasingly target insurtechs for acquisition and partnerships in the coming months due to pandemic-related economic uncertainty, according to a report. “As insurers move toward late 2020...
Arkansas Elementary School Teacher Dies From Coronavirus
Oct 5 2020 // An Arkansas teacher died from COVID-19, her husband said Friday, the second coronavirus death from the state’s public schools this week. Susanne Michael, 47, an elementary school teacher from Harrisburg, died...
Illinois Topped 300,000 Coronavirus Cases, Adds 31 Deaths
Oct 5 2020 // Illinois topped 300,000 confirmed coronavirus infections since the pandemic hit the state about seven months ago, state health officials said over the weekend. The Illinois Department of Public Health has recorded 300,088...
Michigan Governor’s Coronavirus Powers Upended After Court Ruling
Oct 5 2020 // A 1945 law repeatedly used by Gov. Gretcher Whitmer to respond to the coronavirus pandemic was declared unconstitutional Friday by the Michigan Supreme Court, a striking decision that puts months of restrictions in...
Insurers Gain Early Wins in COVID-19 Business Interruption Lawsuits
Oct 5 2020 // Insurers have succeeded in dismissing COVID-19 business-interruption lawsuits in 17 out of 23 cases heard so far, with a growing number of judges finding that some tangible alteration of a property is required to trigger...
Alabama Insurance Dept. Makes COVID-Related Producer Licensing Modifications
Oct 5 2020 // The Alabama Department of Insurance has issued a bulletin providing information and directives regarding current deadlines/requirements in the Producer Licensing Division related to the COVID-19 emergency. The Oct. 1, 2020...
COVID-19: No One Avoids the Impact
Oct 5 2020 // Workers’ Compensation Premiums Down 8% in First Half of 2020 Prior to discussing the results of our review of aggregate workers’ compensation insurance written in the U.S. during the first half of 2020 versus...
Plaintiffs Win One, Lose One in COVID-19 BI Legal Fight
Oct 5 2020 // A federal judge in Florida late last month denied an insurer’s petition to dismiss a COVID-19 business-interruption lawsuit, while a federal magistrate judge in California threw out a similar claim. Both lawsuits...
Judges Nix Consolidating COVID Business Interruption Suits Against Big Insurers
Oct 4 2020 // A panel of federal judges has decided against consolidation of hundreds of lawsuits seeking coverage for coronavirus-related business interruption claims against major national insurers Travelers, The Hartford, Cincinnati...
Iowa Relaxing Quarantine Guidance Despite Rapid COVID Spread
Oct 2 2020 // Gov. Kim Reynolds announced a policy change this week to make it easier for Iowa students, teachers and business workers exposed to someone with COVID-19 to avoid a two-week quarantine, despite a surge in cases across the...
COVID-Sniffing Robots Promise Fast Testing Alternative
Oct 2 2020 // A biotechnology startup called Koniku is trying to develop robots that could sniff out Covid-19 infections faster than conventional testing. The technology fuses neurons with a silicon chip to create a “smell...
Amazon Reveals 19,000 Frontline Workers Contracted Coronavirus
Oct 2 2020 // Amazon.com Inc. on Thursday said more than 19,000 of its U.S. frontline workers contracted the coronavirus this year, or 1.44% of the total, a disclosure sought by labor advocates who have criticized the COVID-19 response...
Traffic Deaths Fell But Fatality Rate Spiked During Coronavirus Lockdowns
Oct 2 2020 // U.S. traffic deaths fell during the coronavirus lockdowns but drivers engaged in riskier behavior as the fatality rate spiked to its highest level in 15 years, according to preliminary data released Thursday. The National...
