Latest COVID-19 Headlines

All the headlines from our COVID-19 Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Lloyd’s Insurer Beazley Reports 1st Half Loss of $13.8M on Mounting COVID-19 Claims

Jul 23 2020 // British insurer Beazley swung to a loss for the first half on Thursday after setting aside $170 million for coronavirus-related claims, saying the fallout from the crisis would be similar to a major natural catastrophe.The...

New Lloyd’s Syndicate-in-a-Box Created to Insure Transport of Future COVID-19 Vaccine

Jul 23 2020 // Lloyd’s, the specialist insurance and reinsurance market, announced the creation and in principle approval of its newest “syndicate-in-a-box,” Syndicate 1796,* set up to insure the storage and...

Travelers Reports Q2 Loss on Catastrophes, Investments; Only Modest COVID Impact

Jul 23 2020 // The Travelers Companies reported a net loss of $40 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2020, compared to net income of $557 million in the prior year quarter. The insurer said the difference was primarily due to higher...

Swiss Re to Report $1.1 Billion Loss During First Half on Hit from COVID-19

Jul 23 2020 // Reinsurance company Swiss Re said on Wednesday that claims and reserves of $2.5 billion related to COVID-19 will lead to a net first half loss of about $1.1 billion.The company, which reported the loss ahead of its...

Nashville Orders Restaurants to Close Earlier to Curb Virus

Jul 23 2020 // Nashville is barring restaurants from staying open late starting Friday in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus, Mayor John Cooper said Tuesday.In a virtual news conference, Cooper said an order will require...

Traffic Down 25%, Motor Vehicle Fatalities Down 8% in May During Lockdowns

Jul 23 2020 // Preliminary estimates indicate that deaths from motor vehicle accidents fell in May but the death rate per miles driven jumped considerably.According to the National Safety Council, it was the third month in a row when...

Vegas Casino Unions Drop MGM from COVID-10 Safety Suit

Jul 22 2020 // Unions representing 65,000 Las Vegas-area casino workers have dropped two MGM Resorts International properties from a lawsuit accusing companies of skimping on protective measures and putting employees at risk of illness...

QBE Expects H1 2020 Loss of US$750M on COVID-19, Natural Catastrophe Claims

Jul 22 2020 // QBE Insurance Group expects to report a first-half, after-tax loss of around $750 million, mainly due to COVID-19 claims and natural catastrophes, which included Australia’s bushfires and hailstorms at the beginning...

85 Crew Members on Alaskan Fishing Boat Infected with COVID

Jul 22 2020 // A factory fishing vessel that docked in the Alaska fishing port of Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands has 85 crew members infected on board with the coronavirus, officials said.The boat named the American Triumph has...

Coronavirus, Civil Riot, Investment Losses Take Bite Out of W.R. Berkley Q2 Profit

Jul 22 2020 // Larger investment losses and COVID-19 took a substantial bite out of W.R. Berkley’s 2019 second-quarter net income, but the specialty insurer and reinsurer still stayed in the black overall.Net income for the quarter...

Ohio’s Wallace & Turner: Turning 150 During a Pandemic

Jul 22 2020 // What’s the secret of longevity for an insurance agency, or really any business, that has been in operation for 150 years and shows no sign of slowing down?“At the end of the day you take care of your clientele,...

Workers Turn Into Sleuths to Track Sicknesses Where Employers Keep Covid Data Secret

Jul 22 2020 // Jana Jumpp spends eight hours a day updating a spreadsheet — not for work, but a recent hobby: figuring out how many of Amazon’s 400,000 warehouse workers have fallen sick with the coronavirus.Amazon won’t...

Program Suspended After 40K Apply for COVID-19 Rent Help in Louisiana

Jul 21 2020 // Louisiana has suspended an emergency rent assistance program to help with the economic slowdown caused by COVID-19 after more than 40,000 people filled out applications for the help in less than four days.The Louisiana...

Los Angeles Mayor Concedes City Reopened Too Soon as Virus Surges

Jul 21 2020 // Mayor Eric Garcetti has conceded that Los Angeles reopened too quickly and again warned that the city was “on the brink” of new shutdown orders as the coronavirus continues to surge in California.Appearing on...

UK Insurtech Startup battleface Offers COVID-19 Travel Insurance Package

Jul 21 2020 // Travel insurance provider battleface announced a new COVID-19 travel insurance package. The new policy will give travelers the peace of mind they have been looking for to venture out safely, including to countries...

Florida Company Deploys Drones to Sanitize Facilities in Virus Fight

Jul 21 2020 // Upward Drone Solutions was only in business for a few months before the coronavirus pandemic hit and much of its work cleaning the exteriors of buildings dried up.Andy Godfrey, CEO of the Pensacola Beach-based business,...

Mississippi Gov Looks to Expand COVID Restrictions to More Counties

Jul 21 2020 // Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves says he is likely to extend the time for restrictions in counties with rapidly expanding cases of the new coronavirus, and he could add several other counties to the list.The current...

Kentucky Supreme Court Blocks Efforts to Halt Governor’s COVID-19 Rules

Jul 21 2020 // Kentucky’s highest court on Friday put a temporary stop to efforts by a top Republican to rein in the Democratic governor’s ability to control the coronavirus outbreak with restrictions on public behavior.The...

Robots Gain as Pandemic Lockdowns, Safety Issues Cause Factories to Automate

Jul 21 2020 // While a resurgence in coronavirus cases in Texas has brought many businesses to a screeching halt, eight robots have kept All Axis Machining’s metal fabrication facility in Dallas humming.The small, nimble robots...

Florida Division of Emergency Management Faces COVID-19 Outbreak

Jul 20 2020 // The Florida Division of Emergency Management closed down part of its facilities after 12 employees tested positive for coronavirus.The areas where the employees work were going through a deep clean over the weekend and...