COVID-19/Non-COVID-19 App Updated With Claims Data Reported as of 6/13/2022

CWCI has updated the COVID-19/Non-COVID-19 Interactive Claims Data App with data on work injury and illness claims through May of AY 2022, reported to the Workers’ Compensation Information System (WCIS) as of June 13.  Those claims included 268,261 COVID claims with dates of injury through May 31 (1,455 of which were death claims).  In the 27 months since the pandemic was declared in March 2020, 1,546,784 workers’ compensation claims have been reported to the WCIS, of which 17.3% have been COVID-19 claims.  Among other findings from the latest update:

• Dramatic fluctuations in the number of reported COVID claims have continued over the past 6 months as the Omicron wave began to build in December, pushing the monthly COVID claim tally up to 23,873 reported claims (vs. 3,565 claims in November), then crested at a record 53,892 COVID claims in January. The COVID claim count then plummeted to 5,192 claims in February and 1,295 claims in March as the Omicron surge subsided, but as Omicron variants began to spread this spring, COVID claim volume began to surge again, climbing to 2,302 claims in April and 5,431 claims in May.  CWCI’s ultimate claim projections show the same sharp fluctuations over the past 6 months, with the latest projections showing the COVID-19 claim count will be 24,350 for December; 54,970 for January; 5,438 for February; 1,334 for March, 2,532 for April, and 7,060 for May.  If the December through May projections hold up, COVID-19 claim volume for the 6-month period will be up 27.3 percent from the corresponding year-earlier total, which was when the second wave of COVID claims hit the state and then receded.   

• Comparing the projected total claim count for the most recent year (June 2021 through May 2022) – which includes both COVID and Non-COVID claims – to the corresponding pre-pandemic period, when there were no COVID claims, the overall claim volume for the latest 12 months is up 8 percent (746,250 claims vs 691,339), even though the number of Non-COVID claims is down 10 percent.  
• Comparing the projected total claim count for the most recent year to the year-earlier figure (June 2020 through May 2021, when there were COVID claims) shows overall claim volume was up 6 percent (746,250 claims vs. 703,017 claims). 
• A review of Non-COVID claims from corresponding periods of accident years 2019 through May of AY 2022 shows the pandemic’s impact on the distribution of claims by industry.Comparing the mix of non-COVID claims by industry for March through May of AY 2019, AY 2020, AY 2021 and AY 2022 shows that Non-COVID claims from the education sector fell from 8.8 percent of all claims in the final pre-pandemic year of 2019 to just 3.9 percent of the Non-COVID claims in AY 2020 and 5.4 percent in AY 2021, as remote learning became widespread across the state.  With schools reopening in 2022, however, the mix of Non-COVID claims shifted again, with the education sector increasing back up to 8.7 percent of the claims.
• Since the pandemic began, the redistribution of COVID claims by industry sector has been far more dramatic, which likely reflects factors such as the large number of non-essential workers who were either laid off, furloughed, or who worked remotely during the first year of the pandemic; the subsequent reopening of the economy which brought   a flood of workers in certain industries back to worksites where they faced potential exposure; and the introduction of COVID vaccines (and the different vaccination rates among various sectors).  Comparing the mix of COVID claims by industry for March through May of AY 2020, AY 2021, and AY 2022 reveals a major redistribution of claims among major sectors, with the most significant changes occurring in the health care sector, which went from 46 percent of the claims in the AY 2020 sample to 19 percent in the AY 2021 and AY 2022 samples. At the same time, public sector/government workers’ share of the COVID claims increased steadily, climbing from 16 percent in AY 2020 to 22 percent in AY 2021, and to 30 percent in AY 2022.  Other sectors that experienced notable fluctuations in their share of the COVID claims include food services, which increased from 3 percent of the COVID claims in AY 2020 to 11 percent in AY 2021 before falling back to 3 percent in AY 2022; transportation, which followed a similar pattern, increasing from 3 percent of COVID claims in AY 2020 to 9 percent in AY 2021, then dropping back to 3 percent in AY 2022.  In contrast, retail workers have seen their share of the COVID claims increase steadily over the past  3 years, climbing from 7 percent in AY 2020 to 12 percent in AY 2021 and to 15 percent in AY 2022.  

Institute members and the public can access additional details, including long-term trends for reported and projected claim volume, regional data, demographic data, comparative data on COVID vs. Non-COVID claims, and changes in claim denial rates and notification times on CWCI’s COVID-19/Non-COVID-19 Interactive App, which is updated biweekly.  The app can be accessed by clicking here.

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