Coronavirus News

Markel International Exits Personal Accident, Contingency Insurance on COVID-19 Impact

Markel International, the London-based specialist insurer and division of Markel Corp., has announced its wholesale business will now focus solely on the entertainment book of business within its personal accident, contingency and entertainment (PACE) portfolio. As a result, with immediate …

MEMIC to Distribute Early $17M Dividend for Eligible Maine Policyholders

In recognition of economic stress being experienced by many of its 18,000 Maine workers’ compensation insurance policyholders, Portland, Maine-based MEMIC’s board of directors has authorized the immediate distribution of a $17 million dividend to eligible employers. The 2020 MEMIC dividend …

U.S. Automakers Revving Up Production, Stressing Covid Safety at Work and Home

Automakers are speeding up U.S. assembly lines to meet recovering demand, increasingly confident coronavirus safety protocols are working to prevent outbreaks in their plants but wary of the challenges workers face outside. Screening workers for COVID-19 using temperature scans and …

Lloyd’s Insurers Get Ready to Re-Open in September After Coronavirus Lockdown

Clear screens on underwriting boxes, temperature-check thermal cameras and a click and collect take-away catering service are among changes Lloyd’s of London insurance workers will see when they return to the office in September. Having shut its London “underwriting room” …

COVID-19 Keeps 100s Off the Job at South Dakota Smithfield Plant

Hundreds of workers are still absent from the Smithfield meatpacking plant in Sioux Falls because of the coronavirus pandemic, according to union leaders. AFL-CIO secretary treasurer BJ Motley says between 800 and 1,200 of the plant’s 3,700 employees are either …

Health Workers Processing Shock of Virus Fight, Uneasiness in Current Quiet

Outside a back door to a hospital where the coronavirus hit like a hurricane, a half-dozen staffers gathered recently to look back, and look inward. “I am still scared,” Dr. Gwen Hooley told her colleagues at Elmhurst Hospital, which was …

California Orders Workers’ Comp Carriers to Return Premiums Due to Stay-At-Home Orders

California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara today issued an order adopting emergency workers’ compensation regulations in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The new regulations go into effect on July 1. The regulations require insurance companies to recompute premium charges for policyholders …

$300M Small Business Aid Plan Signed by Louisiana Governor

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards has signed a Republican-crafted plan to spend $300 million in federal coronavirus aid to help small businesses recover from the outbreak, agreeing to a grant program that peeled off dollars he initially planned to use …

Arkansas Governor Signs Orders Giving Businesses Virus Lawsuit Protections

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson had granted businesses protections from coronavirus lawsuits, while the state’s epidemiologist said she’s concerned loosened restrictions may have caused some to lower their guard against the virus. Hutchinson signed executive orders that grants similar immunity to …

Georgia Senate Panel Wants Businesses Shielded from COVID-19 Suits

A Georgia Senate committee wants to protect businesses, governments, property owners and emergency personnel from being sued if someone claims they contracted COVID-19 because of them. The Senate Public Safety Committee voted Monday to amend House Bill 216, which originally …