Version 3 of CWCI's COVID-19 and Non-COVID-19 Interactive Data App Now Available

CWCI has completed the latest data refresh of our COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 data app, which can be accessed for free directly through our website (click here).  The app integrates data from DWC’s Workers’ Compensation Information System” (WCIS) database, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and CWCI’s own Industry Research Information System (IRIS) database, and is updated every two weeks to allow users to stay current with overall claim trends as well as those specific to COVID-19 claims.  

The latest version is based on claims reported as of August 24 for the first 7 months of AY 2020.  The app now features data derived from 721,361 California workers’ compensation claims from January through July of AY 2019 and from the same 7-month period of AY 2020, including all 36,617 COVID-19 claims from AY 2020 recorded by WCIS as of August 24.  Among the overall trends noted: 

• The monthly claim count of workers’ compensation claims reported to WCIS fell from 50,460 claims in February to 43,487 in March, when the statewide shelter-in-place order took effect, then bottomed out at 31,813 claims in April.
• Overall claim volume began moving back up in May, spurred by the growing number of COVID-19 claims. As of August 24, the total number of claims recorded by WCIS was 39,201 for May, 52,015 for June and 50,814 for July; while the COVID-19 claim counts for those months totaled 4,710 for May, 10,968 for June, and 11,936 for July.
• COVID-19 claims as a percent of all California workers’ compensation claims have grown steadily across the first 7 months of this year, increasing from 0 percent of all claims with January injury dates to 23.5 percent of the claims with July injury dates.
• Using data development factors to account for reporting time lags, CWCI projects total workers’ compensation claim volume for the first 7 months of AY 2020 could increase from the August 24 tally of 320,129 to 383,006 (the number of COVID-19 claims is projected to increase from 34,815 to 52,632 while the number of non-COVID-19 claims is projected to increase from 285,314 to 330,375). The projected total is only 4.5 percent below the total number of claims reported to WCIS for the first 7 months of AY 2019.

In addition to claim counts and trends, the app is also able to generate detailed data on COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 claims, including claim distributions by region, industry, claimant age and gender, and for insured or self-insured claims.  CWCI plans to expand the app’s features and functions as more data becomes available.  

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