Latest COVID-19 Headlines
All the headlines from our COVID-19 Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Overtime, Flexibility, Automation Among Challenges in Pandemic Labor Reshuffle
May 11 2021 // If the coronavirus pandemic produced its own brand of anxiety for American workers trying to stay healthy while balancing job and family demands, the coming return to “normal” will pose a new set of...
How Auto Insurers, Consumers Rode the Bumpy Year of Pandemic
May 10 2021 // The U.S. auto insurance market experienced market disruption due to pandemic-related shopping volatility, an uptick in dangerous driving, policy renewal delays and fewer claims. But by the end of 2020, shopping volumes...
Texas Judge Refuses to Dismiss Theater Chain’s COVID Lawsuit
May 10 2021 // A federal judge in Sherman, Texas on May 5 ruled against an insurer that sought to dismiss a $500 million COVID-19 business interruption lawsuit by the nation’s third-largest chain of movie theaters. The decision...
If Covid-19 Vaccine Patents Are Waived, Legal Options For Drug Firms Are Limited
May 7 2021 // A potential World Trade Organization waiver of patent and trade secret protections for Covid-19 vaccines would leave pharmaceutical companies with limited legal avenues to recover costs. The U.S. on Wednesday expressed...
New Hampshire Bill Would Make Employers Pay for Any Required COVID-19 Test
May 7 2021 // Employers who require COVID-19 tests for applicants or workers would be required to pay for them under a bill heard by a New Hampshire House committee Wednesday. The bill would prohibit employers from requiring that an...
Pfizer-BioNTech Seek FDA Full Approval for Authorized COVID-19 Vaccine
May 7 2021 // Pfizer Inc. and German partner BioNTech SA said on Friday they have started an application process with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for full approval of their COVID-19 vaccine, currently only authorized for...
U.S. Court Allows Movie Chain’s COVID Business Interruption Suit Against FM Global
May 7 2021 // A federal judge in Sherman, Texas on Wednesday ruled against insurer FM Global that sought to dismiss a $500 million COVID-19 business-interruption lawsuit by the nation’s third-largest chain of movie theaters. The...
Study Links High Hispanic Death Rate From Covid-19 to Work Exposure
May 6 2021 // Hispanic Americans have died of Covid-19 at a disproportionately high rate compared to whites because of workplace exposure to the virus, a new study suggests. Hispanics are over-represented among workers in essential...
COVID Is Far From the Only Risk Facing Insurers and Financial Sector Firms: Allianz
May 6 2021 // COVID-19 may drive market corrections and insolvencies that could impact financial institutions’ balance sheets, increase exposures for directors and result in litigation. However, financial institutions are also...
WHO Says China’s Vaccine Prevents COVID But Questions Data on Side Effects: Reuters
May 6 2021 // WHO experts have voiced “very low confidence” in data provided by Chinese state-owned drugmaker Sinopharm on its COVID-19 vaccine regarding the risk of serious side-effects in some patients, but overall...
Biden Backs Patent Waiver for Covid-19 Vaccines
May 6 2021 // President Joe Biden on Wednesday threw his support behind waiving intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines, bowing to mounting pressure from Democratic lawmakers and more than 100 other countries, but angering...
Employers Advised to Prepare for Pandemic’s Mental Health Fallout as Employees Return
May 6 2021 // From casual Fridays to after-work drinks, those weekly rituals once taken for granted are returning as Americans head back to the office. And while masks, plexiglass and empty conference rooms will alter the cubescape,...
Workers Refusing Covid Vaccine Could Lose Their Jobs
May 5 2021 // Texas nurse Jennifer Bridges plans to go to work on June 7, like it’s any other day. The only difference is, when she gets there she expects to be fired. That day is the deadline her employer, Houston Methodist...
Rare Covid-19 Vaccine and Treatment Injury Victims Look to U.S. Fund
May 4 2021 // High school senior Emma Burkey received her “one and done” Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine on March 20, and within two weeks was in an induced coma following seizures and clotting in her...
Governor Lifts Most COVID Restrictions on Georgia Businesses
May 3 2021 // Georgia’s governor is removing many remaining requirements for social distancing and masked employees from businesses, saying that the state’s efforts to control COVID-19 have been successful even as its...
Missouri House Passes New Bill Limiting COVID-19 Lawsuits
May 3 2021 // The Missouri House on April 29 advanced a bill to limit pandemic-related lawsuits, a top priority for Republican Gov. Mike Parson. The GOP-led House gave the proposal initial approval in a voice vote. It’s unclear if...
Swiss Re Scores Profit Despite COVID Death Claims, Catastrophe Losses
May 3 2021 // Swiss Re reported consolidated net income of USD 333 million in the first quarter of 2021, despite heightened losses in its life and health reinsurance business related to COVID and property and casualty reinsurance losses...
Customers Ignored Brands in Shopping for Auto Insurance During Pandemic: J.D. Power
May 3 2021 // Many auto insurance customers have shopped around for new policies during the coronavirus pandemic, but few cared about specific brands, according to the J.D. Power 2021 U.S. Insurance Shopping Study. More than half (54%)...
Insurance Relief for COVID and More
May 3 2021 // Last month at a media event the insurance industry nonprofit Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation (IICF) gave insurance industry leaders an opportunity to talk about their philanthropic initiatives. Leaders from AIG,...
No Delays Found in Medical Care for Workers’ Compensation Claimants During COVID
May 3 2021 // Despite potential obstacles posed by the coronavirus pandemic, injured workers experienced no meaningful delays in access to medical treatment under their employers’ workers’ compensation programs during the...
