No, I haven’t heard anything specifically on this. However, I’d be inclined to treat them as reportable occupational diseases only to the extent you know for sure that the employee contracted the infection as a result of a work exposure. Example: An employee gets COVID a few days after being in a confined space without ventilation or PPE with other workers later confirmed as having the infection at the time. But these cases will be the exception, I suspect. Normally, you won’t be able to tell for sure if the employee’s COVID was due to work exposure. And for those cases, I would NOT count them as a reportable occupational illness. Just my opinion, but it’s based on guidance from various workers comp boards around the country. Glenn
