DALLAS – The COVID-19 pandemic halted a 20-year trend in Texas of declining workers’ compensation claims.
From the start of the pandemic through early August, insurance carriers reported more than 90,000 COVID-19 claims and 459 COVID-related deaths to the Texas Division of Workers’ Compensation, part of the state insurance department. Eighty percent of the fatal claims involved men.
About 35% of COVID-19 claims received benefit payments, which totaled $121.6 million, while the other 65% received no benefit, according to the workers’ comp division’s latest COVID-19 claims data. Benefits included medical, income, death or burial.
