California COVID-19 workers compensation claims more than doubled in the latter part of 2022, but the surge paled in comparison with the prior two years, according to new data released Tuesday by the California Workers’ Compensation Institute.
The findings show that after falling to 1,553 COVID-19 claims in October, the second lowest total for all of 2022, claims increased to 3,354 in November and later peaked at 4,680 in December. Claim counts dropped again in January to 2,859 reported cases.
When broken down by industry, the largest number of claims were filed first by health care workers, second by those working in public safety and government, and third by retail workers.
The CWCI said education was the only major employment sector that experienced an increase in COVID-19 claims in the first quarter of 2023, as the claim count rose from 240 to 442, or 84.2%.
The sector experiencing the largest decline in COVID-19 claims was food services, which saw a 68.2% claims decrease, from 214 in the fourth quarter of 2022 to 68 in the first quarter of 2023.