Atlanta, GA – Broadspire recently announced the release of a white paper to look at how COVID-19 and similar occupational diseases are viewed in a workers compensation context. As the 2019 Coronavirus (COVID-19) begins to spread in the United States, questions of the impact on workers compensation claims are beginning to arise.
Each day, employees come in contact with customers, clients and coworkers, with each interaction increasing the risk of transmission of a cold, the flu or other common illness. However, those same employees also interact with people outside of the workplace. And with the onset of symptoms or infection coming on at an indeterminable period of time after initial contact, the lines pointing to where exposure to the illness occurred are blurry, at best.
In some workers compensation claims, medical professionals, first responders and others in hands-on occupations are able to identify the exact interaction or moment of exposure to a disease. Needle sticks, bites, cuts and other acute transmission of bodily fluids can make that determination very simple from a workers compensation perspective.
Unfortunately, exposure to COVID-19 is not as simple to pinpoint, and with the disease actively spreading across the globe, many questions are being raised as employers and employees survey the landscape.
Read the full paper: Broadspire: The workers compensation impacts of 2019 Coronavirus
Source: Broadspire