Latest COVID-19 Headlines
All the headlines from our COVID-19 Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Big Publishers Sue Digital ‘Emergency Library’ Offering Free Books During Coronavirus
Jun 2 2020 // Four of the country’s biggest publishers have sued a digital library for copyright infringement, alleging that the Internet Archive has illegally offered more than a million scanned works to the public, including...
Nevada Property Manager Paying $300K in Virus Eviction Ban Lawsuit
Jun 2 2020 // A Nevada-based property management company that issued eviction notices to tenants in Tacoma during the coronavirus pandemic has agreed to pay nearly $350,000 to resolve a lawsuit filed by Washington state Attorney General...
States Adding Laws to Shield Businesses From Liability for Coronavirus Claims
Jun 2 2020 // Four states have passed laws that grant businesses immunity from civil liability for claims relating to COVID-19, while legislation in at least three other states is advancing. The bills signed into law by the governors of...
How COVID-19 Court Lockdowns May Turn the Social Inflation Tide
Jun 2 2020 // Defense attorney Ellen Greiper reported receiving more than the usual number of phone calls from plaintiffs attorneys earlier this month, suggesting that the call dynamics could be signaling a COVID-driven change in social...
Insurance Survey Asks: How Is Pandemic Affecting Your Life, Your Work, Your Industry?
Jun 2 2020 // How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting you and your work? Now and going forward? No matter where you work in the P/C insurance industry, your experience is important. Learn how your experience compares with that of your...
Pandemic Stay-at-Home Experience Raises P/C Insurers’ Bar for Delivering Digitally
Jun 2 2020 // Significant investments in direct-to-consumer website and mobile design have helped property/casualty insurance companies improve their digital service and shopping experiences. Consultants at J.D. Power say insurers have...
California Lowers Workers’ Comp COVID Estimate; Expects Claims Drop in Downturn
Jun 1 2020 // The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California on Monday released a study looking at the historic impact of economic downturns on workers’ comp claim frequency and the potential impact of...
Tennessee to Require COVID-19 Testing at Long-Term Care Facilities
Jun 1 2020 // Gov. Bill Lee’s administration announced Friday that long-term care facilities will soon be required to test all of their residents and staff for COVID-19 after initially just urging nursing homes to do so. According...
Georgia Nursing Home Cited for Delayed Reporting of Virus-Infected Workers
Jun 1 2020 // The federal agency that oversees workplace safety said Friday that it had issued its first citation in the U.S. related to the coronavirus outbreak: against a Georgia nursing home that delayed reporting the hospitalization...
Louisiana Lawmakers OK Bills to Limit Virus Lawsuits Against Businesses
Jun 1 2020 // Louisiana lawmakers want to give protections from most lawsuits for coronavirus deaths and injuries to businesses that never closed during the outbreak and those that are newly reopening. The Republican-led bills by Sen....
Pandemic Reinsurance Solution Gains Wide Support from UK Re/Insurance Industry
Jun 1 2020 // UK insurance executives have taken another step toward developing a public-private risk-financing mechanism for future pandemics with the creation of work streams to take the idea from the drawing board to an operating...
Arizona Judge Rules Against Releasing Nursing Home COVID-19 Stats
Jun 1 2020 // The state of Arizona doesn’t have to publicly reveal the number of coronavirus cases and deaths among residents of nursing homes, long-term facilities and retirement homes, a state judge ruled on Friday. The ruling...
Italy’s Regulator Asks Insurer Cattolica to Boost Its Capital by $557M on COVID-19 Impact
Jun 1 2020 // Cattolica Assicurazioni said on Monday that Italy’s insurance regulator had told it to raise 500 million euros ($557 million) after the coronavirus crisis knocked its solvency ratio, a measure of financial...
Pandemic-Hit Re/insurers Expect a Costly Hurricane Season – and Rates Are Rising
Jun 1 2020 // The official start of the Atlantic hurricane season on Monday could signal more steep losses for insurers and reinsurers, already battered by the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on their underwriting and investment...
British Regulator Enlists 8 Insurers in Pandemic Test Case of Business Interruption Cover
Jun 1 2020 // Insurers including Hiscox, RSA and QBE will take part in a UK test case to decide whether their policies should pay out millions of pounds to companies hit by the coronavirus pandemic, the industry regulator said on...
Coronavirus Could Complicate Hurricane Response, Warns Catastrophe Modeler
Jun 1 2020 // “Hurricanes and COVID-19 are not a good mix,” says catastrophe modeling firm Karen Clark & Co., warning in a report that the pandemic will make what forecasters already predict to be an above-average...
Less Cars Doesn’t Equate to Fewer Fatalities During Coronavirus Quarantine. Fatality Rate Up 14%.
Jun 1 2020 // As Americans have been driving less and covering fewer miles, the emptier roads have become more lethal. Preliminary data from the National Safety Council indicate a year-over-year 14% jump in fatality rates per miles...
Nursing Home With Oregon’s Deadliest Virus Outbreak Sued
Jun 1 2020 // The daughter of a woman who died after contracting the coronavirus at a Portland long-term care facility filed a $1.8 million lawsuit last month claiming elder abuse. Angela Brown says her 75-year-old mother, Judith Jones,...
California Workers’ Comp Bureau Lowers Mid-Range Estimate of COVID Costs by $10B
Jun 1 2020 // The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California published estimated costs of allowing state workers to receive benefits for COVID-19 claims without proving virus exposure at work, dropping a prior...
Coronavirus Business Interruption Suits Top 100; More Expected
Jun 1 2020 // A federal court has received notice that 101 lawsuits have been filed as of late May seeking coverage from insurers for business interruption losses caused by COVID-19. Plaintiffs attorneys say they expect the number to...
