Workers compensation claims for COVID-19 relative to statewide infections have fallen considerably, from more than 10% in the early days of the pandemic to less than 2% for most of 2021, according to data from the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California.

In the first four months of the pandemic, there were 25,500 work comp claims for COVID-19 among about 233,000 statewide infections, a ratio of about 1 in 10. Starting in July 2020 and continuing through November, there were 49,100 comp claims among 993,000 statewide infections, a ratio of about 1 in 20.

Statewide infections jumped during the winter surge to 2.25 million, but while comp claims increased to 69,400 during the three-month period from December through February, the ratio relative to statewide claims fell to about 1 in 30.

Since March 2021, the ratio of comp claims to statewide infections has been about 1 in 50, with 13,900 comp claims and 767,000 total infections.

Of the approximately 158,000 claims filed in 2020 and 2021, 68,000 were against self-insured employers and 90,000 were insured claims.

“About 43% of COVID-19 claims have been reported by self-insured employers,” the WCIRB report noted. “Typically, about one-third of non-COVID-19 claims are self-insured employer claims.”

The WCIRB also reported 1,056 death claims related to COVID-19 — 858 in 2020 and 198 in 2021. Fewer than 500 death claims are filed in a typical year. The rating bureau added that COVID-19 death claims are often reported late and that totals for 2021 will likely increase.

The WCIRB’s report suggests that the health care sector was especially hard hit. About 22% of the reported death claims came from health care workers. And COVID-19 accounted for 49% of all indemnity claims filed by workers in the sector.

Public administration had the second-highest percentage of COVID-19 indemnity claims at 34%, followed by clerical workers at 21% and finance at 17%.

The average cost of a COVID-19 claim, with $6,781 in medical benefits and $5,697 in indemnity benefits, was about 8.1% lower than the average non-COVID-19 claim with $7,775 in medical benefits and $5,800 in indemnity.

While COVID-19 claims tend to be less expensive than other injuries, the WCIRB reported 1.2% of virus-related claims incurred losses of $500,000 or more, about four times the percentage of non-COVID-19 claims.

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