Despite the fact life may be slowly returning to a state of normalcy, thousands of individuals are still contracting COVID-19 and falling ill to the virus. Although people are taking precautions such as staying at home when possible, wearing masks, and maintaining social distancing, there are instances where it is unavoidable that a person will likely be exposed to coronavirus. Oftentimes, this happens at an individual’s place of employment. Luckily, the workers’ compensation system has established guidelines that allow employees to file a workers’ compensation claim in the event that they contract COVID-19 as a result of work. There are many different industries that put workers at risk of coming in contact with the virus, however, there are a few that stand out amongst the rest. By no surprise, healthcare workers have vastly outnumbered all other types of employees in filing COVID-19 workers’ compensation claims.
At-Risk Industries
In a recent study done by Mitchell International, Inc., 66% of all workers’ compensation claims related to coronavirus were filed by health and social care workers. When working in a healthcare facility such as a hospital or doctor’s office, it is nearly impossible to guarantee that each patient is free from COVID-19. This is especially true because many people are asymptomatic and go undetected throughout the duration of their contagious period of the virus. Frontline healthcare workers risk their safety each day through exposing themselves to hundreds of unwell or vulnerable patients thus making the correlation between health care workers and high filings of workers’ compensation claims during this time easy to understand.
There are several other industries that comprise a significant portion of total COVID-19 workers’ compensation claims filed including:
- Public administration
- Educational services
- Manufacturing
Future Trends
As schools continue to open around the country, it is likely that there will be a spike in the number of workers’ compensation claims filed by teachers and other education professionals who have been diagnosed with coronavirus.
Completely avoiding the threat of the virus is unfortunately not probable, especially if your job requires you to be around other people on a regular basis. Arming yourself with the information of which industries are most susceptible will allow you to take proper precautions in order to best protect yourself and your loved ones. If you have been diagnosed with COVID-19 due to exposure at your workplace, don’t hesitate to contact Poirier Law Firm today. You deserve just compensation for risking your health and safety while on-the-job and our team will fight for your rights!
Source: https://www.businessinsurance.com/article/20200804/NEWS06/912335954/Health-care-workers-have-filed-most-COVID-19-comp-claims-Study#