Latest COVID-19 Headlines
All the headlines from our COVID-19 Topic Page, ordered by recency.
How Insurance Industry Might Respond if a Pandemic Is an Act of Terror
Sep 21 2020 // Imagine a scenario where COVID-19 was manufactured in a lab and was released as an act of terror. Tracey Gibbons, senior vice present, Underwriting, at Third Point Re, considers this possibility during a presentation for...
Startups Developing Technologies to Clean Air in Workplaces of Coronavirus
Sep 21 2020 // Smithfield Foods Inc. thought it was doing great. In the first quarter of this year, the pork giant’s earnings were up 190% over the same period in 2019. Then the pandemic hit, and the close quarters of meatpacking...
Reporting Who Gets It: Coworkers and Coronavirus
Sep 21 2020 // Does an employer have to say if a coworker has the virus? Employers are generally not required to tell workers when someone in the workplace has tested positive for the coronavirus. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and...
Schools Find Lessons About Insurance Liability and COVID-19 Are Complicated
Sep 21 2020 // School officials and insurers across the country are facing questions about COVID-19-related insurance liability as classes begin, but answers remain elusive, according to A.M. Best. “Uncertainty about the plethora...
Agents Warned of ‘Creative’ Attorneys and COVID-19 Lawsuits
Sep 21 2020 // Agents and brokers should be on alert that plaintiffs’ attorneys in COVID-19 related business interruption claims lawsuits may be eyeing them as more cases against insurance companies begin to fail and claimants...
New Mexico Officials Say Teachers Are Safe from Legal Liability Amid Virus
Sep 21 2020 // New Mexico officials have clarified that teachers won’t be on the hook for lawsuits that might stem from COVID-19 outbreaks as in-person classes began for some students. “In no way will teachers or school...
Some Reinsurers Will Try Pandemic Exclusions for Casualty at Jan. 1 Renewals
Sep 18 2020 // Whether they are convinced that they absolutely need them or not, some reinsurers aim to try to put pandemic exclusions into casualty reinsurance contracts next year, a reinsurance broker representative revealed...
Fitness Centers in California Suing State Over Virus Closures
Sep 17 2020 // California fitness centers have filed a lawsuit alleging Gov. Gavin Newsom’s measures aimed at curbing the spread of the coronavirus unfairly target the industry and are demanding they be allowed to reopen. The...
How Spain’s COVID Tracing App Navigates Europe’s Privacy Protections
Sep 17 2020 // “What does RadarCOVID not do?” a promotional video for Spain’s contact-tracing app asks. The answer: while navigating the country’s decentralized healthcare system, it does not locate users,...
Software Glitch Blamed for Incorrect COVID Notifications to 7K in North Carolina
Sep 17 2020 // A county in North Carolina incorrectly told nearly 7,000 residents they had tested positive for the coronavirus due what officials say was a technical glitch. The messages were sent by text messages to more than 6,700...
Virus Deaths Surpass 2,000 in Washington State
Sep 16 2020 // More than 2,000 people in the state have now died due to the coronavirus, according to The Washington state Department of Health. As of Monday afternoon, KUOW reports there have been 2,006 recorded deaths from COVID-19,...
Manulife to Begin Offering Canadians COVID-19 Travel Insurance
Sep 16 2020 // Canadian insurer Manulife Financial Group will restore some coverage for coronavirus-related trip interruptions in a new travel insurance policy that also includes COVID-19 in its emergency medical coverage. The policy...
UK Businesses Wait to See if Their Insurers Will Appeal COVID-19 Insurance Ruling
Sep 16 2020 // LONDON — Murray Pulman says he is as tough as they come, but battles with his insurer have left him close to tears after a coronavirus lockdown forced his family-run cafe The Posh Partridge to close. Pulman was...
South Carolina Halts Temporary Producer Licenses Related to COVID-19 Emergency
Sep 16 2020 // The South Carolina Department of Insurance will no longer issue temporary producer licenses related to the COVID-19 State of Emergency, according to a bulletin issued by the department on Sept. 15. SCDOI said as of the...
Louisiana Health System Cited for Coronavirus Safety Violations
Sep 15 2020 // A healthcare system in Shreveport, Louisiana, has been cited by federal workplace safety officials for failing to protect employees from coronavirus exposure. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and...
Insurers, Policyholders, Analysts React to UK’s COVID-19 Business Interruption Ruling
Sep 15 2020 // Insurers and observers are weighing in on the ruling by a London court in a test case brought by Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to clarify insurance coverage for COVID-19 related business interruption...
Coronavirus Pandemic Will Have Severe Impact on Social Inflation: Fitch’s Mazzuoli
Sep 15 2020 // Claims inflation for the commercial liability business will increase through 2020, although it was accelerating even before the coronavirus pandemic hit. This trend, known as social inflation, has led the insurance...
COVID-19 Crisis Reveals Contract Clarity Lessons, Digital Opportunities: Flandro
Sep 15 2020 // In every crisis, lessons must be learned, but opportunities also are revealed. And so it goes with the COVID-19, which has shown the need for contract certainty in the re/insurance industry, while at the same time...
World Leaders Failed to Heed Warnings and Prepare for Pandemic, Says Global Report
Sep 15 2020 // A collective failure by political leaders to heed warnings and prepare for an infectious disease pandemic has transformed “a world at risk” to a “world in disorder,” according to a report on...
Why the Coronavirus Recession Is Not Like the Last Recession
Sep 14 2020 // Judith Ramirez received a letter this month that she’d been dreading: The Honolulu hotel that furloughed her from a housekeeping job in March, during the lockdown triggered by the coronavirus pandemic, made her...
