Latest COVID-19 Headlines
All the headlines from our COVID-19 Topic Page, ordered by recency.
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...
Courts Allow COVID-19 Claims by Insureds With Policy Endorsements for Diseases
Jan 12 2021 // While insurers continue to win four out of five cases in early rounds, in the past month two property owners with policies that contained endorsements specifically providing coverage for diseases survived motions to...
Covid-19 Vaccine Distribution Risks and Insurance: Q&A With Allianz Specialists
Jan 12 2021 // As COVID-19 vaccine distribution rolls out across the country, insurers of the pharmaceutical industry are in a position to share their experience as to what constitutes a successful and safe distribution process. Allianz...
Kentucky Lawmakers Pass Bills Limiting Gov’s Authority on Pandemic Restrictions
Jan 11 2021 // In a stinging rebuke of the Democratic governor’s response to COVID-19, Republican lawmakers on Saturday gave final passage to bills limiting his emergency powers to impose restrictions meant to contain the...
Here’s What’s New in U.S. Small Business Pandemic Paycheck Protection Program
Jan 11 2021 // The Small Business Administration launches on Monday more Paycheck Protection Program loans to help small businesses weather the coronavirus pandemic. Congress last month approved $284 billion in new funds for the...
Directors & Officers Risk Landscape Shaped by Insolvencies, COVID, Activism
Jan 11 2021 // While the COVID-19 pandemic presents risks for directors and officers (D&O), it is far from the only force these insureds and their insurers will be dealing with in the year ahead. Rising insolvency exposures, growing...
Employment Practices Insurance in the Age of Covid
Jan 11 2021 // Overall trends for the past 30 years in the employment practices liability insurance market have been influenced by society and culture. As concerns over racial and disability discrimination, sexual harassment, gender...
Logic & Language and Forms & Facts The Final Word on COVID-19 and Insurance?
Jan 11 2021 // Since this is an insurance coverage column, it’s perhaps fitting to initiate the new year with a look back at the biggest coverage issue of the past year and probably the past couple of decades. In 2001, the coverage...
Can Insurance-Related Firms Compel Employees to Get COVID-19 Vaccination?
Jan 11 2021 // The long-awaited and highly anticipated COVID-19 vaccine is here. The first to arrive on the scene, from Pfizer-BioNTech, received emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration several days ago. On the...
Pandemic-Era Mardi Gras Lack Crowds, But Plenty of Cake
Jan 8 2021 // A subdued Carnival season began Wednesday after the coronavirus pandemic put an end to the crowd-heavy balls and street parades that draw thousands of people to the city every year. The Mardi Gras season always starts on...
