Latest COVID-19 Headlines
All the headlines from our COVID-19 Topic Page, ordered by recency.
COVID-Related Discrimination Lawsuits Filed Against 2 Texas Companies
Sep 28 2021 // Federal officials filed two lawsuits in Texas courts, alleging that a pharmacy in Fabens and a coffeehouse in Ft. Worth both discriminated against employees with disabilities that rendered them vulnerable to serious...
Smaller Delaware Businesses Find Ways to Survive Pandemic
Sep 28 2021 // Small businesses have faced big-time problems throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. And for many, it was no longer just about trying to get by. It was a matter of survival. Local small-business owners Rous and Angie Robles of...
U.S. Court Upholds Ohio Hospital Employee COVID-19 Vaccine Rule
Sep 27 2021 // A federal judge on Sept. 24 ruled that a Cincinnati, Ohio-area healthcare provider could require its employees get vaccinated against COVID-19 or risk losing their job, in what appears to be the first ruling of its kind...
Judge Clears Kansas City COVID Business Interruption Claim for Trial
Sep 24 2021 // A federal judge in Kansas City has cleared a restaurant group’s COVID-related business interruption claim for jury trial, finding that an 8th Circuit Court decision that found no coverage was owed in a separate case...
Mississippi Public Universities Cannot Require COVID-19 Vaccine
Sep 23 2021 // The board that governs Mississippi’s public universities has voted to prohibit schools from requiring COVID-19 vaccines for students and staff. The Board of Trustees of the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning...
Religious Exemptions Grow as COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates Rise
Sep 23 2021 // An estimated 2,600 Los Angeles Police Department employees are citing religious objections to try to get out of the required COVID-19 vaccination. In Washington state, thousands of state workers are seeking similar...
New Zealand Raises Fines for People and Companies that Break COVID-19 Rules
Sep 22 2021 // WELLINGTON – New Zealand on Friday [Sept. 17] announced higher fines of up to NZ$12,000 ($8,400) for individuals breaching coronavirus restrictions amid concerns that the current outbreak may spread beyond Auckland to...
The Impact of COVID-19 on Contractors and the Construction Industry
Sep 20 2021 // The coronavirus pandemic forced most individuals and businesses to stand still for a moment in time, a pause that was challenging for many and cost jobs, income and growth. While many industries are transitioning back to...
States Curtail Public Health Powers for This Pandemic and Future Diseases
Sep 16 2021 // Republican legislators in more than half of U.S. states, spurred on by voters angry about lockdowns and mask mandates, are taking away the powers that state and local officials use to protect the public against infectious...
UK COVID-19 Business Insurance Payouts Top One Billion Pounds
Sep 16 2021 // Small companies in Britain, which demanded that their insurers cover claims for losses accrued during the COVID-19 pandemic, have received more than one billion pounds ($1.4 billion) in full and interim business...
Settlement Sets Up Panel for Hawaii Prisons During Pandemic
Sep 14 2021 // A U.S. judge has given preliminary approval to a settlement in a lawsuit by Hawaii inmates who allege state officials mishandled the pandemic and failed to protect them from COVID-19 outbreaks in prisons and jails. In a...
Biden Calls for COVID Vaccine Mandate or Test for Two-Thirds of U.S. Workers
Sep 9 2021 // President Joe Biden on Thursday said he will require all federal employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19 and the U.S. Department of Labor will issue a rule requiring that businesses with more than 100 employees have...
Global Reinsurers Shoulder ‘Considerable Burden’ of COVID-19 Claims
Sep 9 2021 // Global life and non-life insurance and reinsurance COVID-19 claims are approaching $50 billion, which has had a significant burden on reinsurers, according to Mike Van Slooten, head of Business Intelligence for Aon...
Despite Police Officer, Firefighter Deaths, Some Still Resist COVID Vaccines
Sep 7 2021 // It was supposed to be a turning point in the coronavirus pandemic for Erin Tokley, a longtime Philadelphia police officer, Baptist minister and 47-year-old father of three. It was supposed to be the day of his vaccine...
In COVID Automation Boom, Robots and Apps Find Work at Services Firms
Sep 7 2021 // Ask for a roast beef sandwich at an Arby’s drive-thru east of Los Angeles and you may be talking to Tori — an artificially intelligent voice assistant that will take your order and send it to the line...
How the Pandemic Changed Employment (And How That’s Here to Stay)
Sep 6 2021 // No one needs to be told how rough 2020 was. But perhaps organizations — agencies, brokerages, and insurers in particular — need a reminder on just how much their worlds have shifted for the better since the...
Inmates at Arkansas Jail Unaware They Were Given Anti-Parasite Drug to Treat COVID-19
Sep 3 2021 // inmates at a northwest Arkansas jail said they weren’t told a medication they were given to treat COVID-19 was actually an anti-parasite drug that federal health officials have warned should not be used to treat the...
What’s an Employer to Do If Workers Avoid COVID Vaccine?
Sep 3 2021 // What can employers do if workers avoid COVID-19 vaccines? They can require vaccination and fire employees who don’t comply, or take other actions such as withholding company perks or charging extra for health...
States’ Contact Tracing Struggling to Keep Up With Latest Surge in COVID Cases
Sep 1 2021 // Health investigators across the U.S. are finding it nearly impossible to keep up with the deluge of new COVID-19 infections and carry out contact tracing efforts that were once seen as a pillar of the nation’s...
Pandemic Uncertainty Hasn’t Slowed Private Equity Investments in Insurance: S&P Global
Aug 31 2021 // Private equity and venture capital firms have been pouring capital into insurance companies despite the uncertainties about claims and losses from the pandemic, according to a new analysis from S&P Global Market...
