Latest COVID-19 Headlines
All the headlines from our COVID-19 Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Pandemic-Related Business Interruption, Cyber Top Business Risks for 2021: Allianz
Jan 27 2021 // There was no escaping the coronavirus in 2020 and the pandemic will dominate the risk landscape again in 2021, according to global leaders in business, risk management and insurance. A trio of Covid-19 related risks —...
Kansas Governor Extends Pandemic Disaster Declaration
Jan 26 2021 // Gov. Laura Kelly has signed a bill that extends the state’s disaster emergency declaration, allowing Kansas to continue to tap into resources for its pandemic response efforts. The legislation, which extends the...
Top Trading Firms Vow to Help Merchants Sailors Stuck on Ships Due to Coronavirus
Jan 26 2021 // Over 300 leading companies said on Tuesday they would work together to help hundreds of thousands of merchant sailors stuck on ships for many months due to COVID-19 in a crisis that risks creating more dangers at...
Wow! Another COVID Decision in Ohio Favoring the Insured
Jan 25 2021 // Something must be in Ohio’s air. Another Ohio court recorded a pro-insured COVID decision on January 19, 2021. In Henderson Road Restaurant Systems, Inc v. Zurich American Insurance Company, the United States...
United Airlines CEO Urges Employers to Mandate COVID-19 Vaccines
Jan 25 2021 // United Airlines may make the COVID-19 vaccine mandatory for employees, and other companies should do the same, United Chief Executive Officer Scott Kirby told workers at a meeting on Thursday, according to a transcript...
How COVID Effect on Workers’ Compensation Claims Has Varied by State, Industry
Jan 25 2021 // The percentage of COVID-19 claims among all workers’ compensation paid claims has varied greatly among states and occupations, as has the decrease in non-COVID claims, new research shows. The percentage of COVID-19...
Biden Orders OSHA to Step Up COVID Workplace Safety Guidance, Enforcement
Jan 22 2021 // The Biden Administration has instructed federal workplace safety officials to do more to help halt the spread of the coronavirus on the job. On his first full day on office, President Joseph Biden signed an executive order...
In Third Lockdown, England Seeing ‘No Evidence of Decline’ in COVID-19 Cases
Jan 22 2021 // A third pandemic lockdown appears to be having little impact on rates of COVID-19 in England, researchers warned on Thursday, with prevalence of the disease “very high” and “no evidence of decline”...
California COVID-19 Benefits Fraud, Cyber Attack Could Reach $9.8B
Jan 20 2021 // California may have paid out nearly $10 billion in phony coronavirus unemployment claims – more than double the previous estimate – with some of that money going to organized crime in Russia, China and other countries,...
Insurance Agency M&A Deals Surged 20% in Year of Pandemic: OPTIS
Jan 20 2021 // There were 744 announced insurance agency mergers and acquisitions in 2020, up nearly 20% from 649 reported in 2019. The surge resulted from the pent-up supply of pending transactions from earlier in the year coupled with...
Texas Extends Workers’ Comp Insurer COVID-19 Data Call to June
Jan 19 2021 // The Texas Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC) has extended until June 2021 its mandatory data call for information related to COVID-19 injuries reported to selected insurance carriers on or after Dec. 1,...
Business Startups Surged Amid Covid-19 Pandemic
Jan 19 2021 // The surge of U.S. business formations in the back half of 2020 has been one of the pandemic’s many surprises. After cratering by 30% in the weeks following the March lockdowns, paperwork filed by prospective...
Louisiana Bars Lose Appeal in Fight Against Forced COVID-19 Closures
Jan 15 2021 // Louisiana bar owners fighting coronavirus-related closures of their businesses lost an appeal at a federal appeals court. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Jan. 13 upheld rulings from two lower court judges who last...
Despite Pandemic, North Carolina Traffic Deaths Climb to 1,500 in 2020
Jan 15 2021 // Traffic deaths in North Carolina last year surpassed 1,500 for the first time in 13 years despite a pandemic during which motorists logged fewer miles statewide, statistics show. N.C. Department of Transportation data...
Expecting the Unexpected: Cyber Lessons from COVID and What Could Be Ahead
Jan 15 2021 // What is the biggest lesson that cyber insurers should carry into 2021 after a year in which the COVID-19 pandemic took center stage? In the first Insuring Cyber podcast episode of the new year and the fifth overall, Tim...
Delivery Company Offers Gig Workers $25 to Get COVID Vaccine
Jan 15 2021 // Grocery delivery company Instacart said on Thursday it would pay $25 to its over half-a-million gig workers if they chose to take time off to get vaccinated against COVID-19. The company, which has been lobbying government...
UK Supreme Court Rules Businesses Should Be Insured for COVID-19 Claims
Jan 15 2021 // Small businesses, from restaurants to nightclubs and wedding planners to beauty parlors, on Friday won the right to insurance payouts after Britain’s highest court ruled many policies should cover losses caused by...
How COVID Effect on Workers’ Compensation Claims Has Varied by State, Industry
Jan 14 2021 // The percentage of COVID-19 claims among all workers’ compensation paid claims has varied greatly among states and occupations, as has the decrease in non-COVID claims, new research shows. The percentage of COVID-19...
COVID-19 Highlights Need for Protections for Millions of Homeworkers
Jan 13 2021 // The dramatic global shift to remote working during COVID-19 lockdowns has underscored an urgent need for greater protections for homeworkers, many of whom are paid far less than those employed outside the home, the United...
Texas Hospitality Sector Hardest Hit in Pandemic; State Has $1B Budget Hole
Jan 12 2021 // The coronavirus pandemic has created a nearly $1 billion deficit in the Texas state budget as the nation’s energy hub remains hampered by a slow recovery and a half-million fewer jobs than a year ago. The forecast by...
