Latest COVID-19 Headlines
All the headlines from our COVID-19 Topic Page, ordered by recency.
McDonald’s Faces Class Action From Workers Over COVID-19 Safety
May 20 2020 // Five McDonald’s workers in Chicago filed a class action lawsuit against the chain on Tuesday, accusing it of failing to adopt government safety guidance on COVID-19 and endangering employees and their...
Pandemic Could Complicate Colorado’s Potentially Bad Fire Season
May 19 2020 // As if Southwest Colorado’s extreme drought wasn’t enough to raise concerns about a potentially destructive wildfire season, the added complications of the coronavirus have only fueled that anxiety. The COVID-19...
Report: Regulators Sat on Complaint as Virus Outbreak Grew at Iowa Plant
May 19 2020 // State safety regulators declined to inspect an Iowa pork plant after receiving a complaint alleging workers were exposed to the coronavirus in crowded conditions — a decision that critics said allowed a burgeoning...
Insurer Beazley Raises $300M to Strengthen Balance Sheet on COVID-19 Uncertainties
May 19 2020 // Beazley, the Lloyd’s specialist insurer, announced it raised £247 million (approximately $300 million) in capital via an equity placement designed to strengthen its balance sheet as a result of the continuing...
Nursing Home With Oregon’s Deadliest Virus Outbreak Sued
May 19 2020 // The daughter of a woman who died after contracting the coronavirus at a Portland long-term care facility filed a $1.8 million lawsuit Thursday claiming elder abuse. Angela Brown says her 75-year-old mother, Judith Jones,...
P/C Insurers Back a Federal Pandemic Loss Fund But Not a Backstop Like TRIA
May 19 2020 // Property/casualty insurance carrier groups are developing a proposal for a federal program to replace revenues lost by businesses shut down during pandemics like COVID-19, but their program won’t be modeled after the...
How Coronavirus Has Affected Auto Insurance Shopping
May 19 2020 // This year began with auto insurance buyers shopping around more than ever but by mid-March shopping began to slow down before returning to normal a few weeks later. According to the data firm LexisNexis, shopping has...
Risk Managers Expect Prolonged Recession From COVID-19: World Economic Forum
May 19 2020 // Risk managers expect a prolonged global recession as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, a report by the World Economic Forum showed on Tuesday. Two-thirds of the 347 respondents to the survey – carried out in...
North Carolina Tyson Foods Plant Closes for COVID-19 Deep Clean After Worker Illnesses
May 19 2020 // A poultry producer is temporarily closing a North Carolina plant for cleaning amid the COVID-19 outbreak. Tyson Foods spokesman Derek Burleson said in an email one of two fresh meat plants at its Wilkesboro complex was...
U.S. Employers Shying Away From Using Coronavirus ‘Immunity’ Tests in Reopening
May 19 2020 // U.S. employers have cooled to the idea of testing workers for possible immunity to the coronavirus as they prepare to reopen factories and other workplaces. Blood tests that check for antibodies to the new coronavirus have...
OSHA Releases First Coronavirus Guidance for Nursing Homes
May 19 2020 // The U.S. Department of Labor last Thursday issued its first workplace guidance to nursing homes since the COVID-19 pandemic swept the country and ravaged care facilities, saying residents, staff and visitors should keep 6...
Amazon’s French Warehouses to Reopen After Ending Virus Safety Dispute with Workers
May 18 2020 // Amazon’s French warehouses are set to reopen on Tuesday with about 30% of employees, three union officials said, ending a month-long dispute over whether the e-commerce giant was doing enough to protect workers from...
North Dakota Insurance Commissioner Addresses COVID-19 Testing Coverage
May 18 2020 // North Dakota Insurance Commissioner Jon Godfread has issued a bulletin addressing coverage for COVID-19 testing in response to an executive order from Gov. Doug Burgum. The new bulletin builds an a previous bulletin in...
AM Best’s Stress Testing Indicates Most Insurers Can Withstand Pandemic Hit
May 18 2020 // Analysts at the AM Best ratings firm say their initial stress tests of insurance companies globally to gauge the preliminary impact from the COVID-19 pandemic on their financial strength found good news: “most...
Coronavirus Blocks Farm Laborers from Working in UK – in Possible Foretaste of Brexit
May 18 2020 // Britain’s fruit and vegetable farmers have long dreaded their country’s exit from the European Union, worrying that it would keep out the tens of thousands of Eastern European workers who come every year to...
Italy to Protect Businesses from Liability if Workers Catch Coronavirus: News Report
May 18 2020 // Italian businesses that follow the health and safety rules are protected from liability in case returning workers catch coronavirus, the head of the country’s insurance association said in an interview with La...
Louisiana Senate Backs Bills to Shield Businesses from Virus Lawsuits
May 18 2020 // Restaurants serving takeout and delivery orders in Louisiana during the coronavirus outbreak and businesses providing protective gear should be largely shielded from lawsuits for injuries, the state Senate decided on May...
Workers at Kansas FedEx Facility Infected with Coronavirus
May 18 2020 // FedEx has confirmed that workers from its facility in the Kansas City suburb of Olathe have tested positive for COVID-19. A spokesperson from FedEx Ground said in a statement that it was working cooperatively with county...
Nephew: Dead Worker Had Warned Virus Was ‘Everywhere’ at Iowa Plant
May 18 2020 // In the days before his death, an Iowa meatpacking worker twice warned that the coronavirus was spreading through his plant because of its crowded spaces and lack of personal protective equipment, his nephew said. Husen...
Citing 9/11 Victims Fund, Lawmakers Eye U.S. Compensation Pool For COVID-19 Workers
May 18 2020 // A bipartisan group of federal lawmakers last week unveiled a plan to compensate essential workers who fall sick or die from COVID-19. The lawmakers are modeling their Pandemic Heroes Compensation Act after the September...