California COVID claim volume decreases following summer surge
The California Workers’ Compensation Institute reported that the summer surge of COVID-19 claims appears to have run its course, as the number of claims fell sharply in October.
CWCI is projecting 3,621 COVID-19 claims for October, down nearly 56% compared with the 8,197 claims projected for the summer peak in August.
“After declining steadily from January through May of this year, the number of work-related COVID claims increased more than tenfold between May and August, climbing to the highest level since January as the state’s economy fully reopened and the delta virus spread throughout the state,” CWCI said in a statement.
“Additional claims from September and October are still being reported, but the COVID-19 claim totals reported as of Nov. 15 show that the DWC has recorded 3,671 claims with September injury dates and 2,743 claims with October injury dates.”
A total of 168,477 COVID-19 claims have been filed since the start of the pandemic, including 1,211 death claims. Claims for COVID-19 accounted for 15.6% of all work injury claims in the state since January 2020.
CWCI reports that recent data indicates vaccines and safety measures are having an effect, as COVID cases represented 9.5% of claims in the first 10 months of 2021 and just 6.1% of all claims with October injury dates.
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