COVID-related claims for compensation to WorkSafeBC have ballooned since the early fall, going up in lock-step with explosive case growth across the province.

Tanya Houghton is the Director of Special Care Services at WorkSafeBC.

Speaking on the NL Noon Report, she says in the first seven months of the pandemic, WorkSafe received just over 1,400 claims – compared to nearly 1,700 in the just the last three months.

“We’ve allowed 1,368 claims as of January 8th, and we have disallowed 888. There are of course other numbers in there because the math doesn’t add up to 3,048. It does mean that there are claims still waiting on a decision or people who decided not to proceed,” she said, noting the main difference between an accepted and rejected claim she says is whether the person actually got sick.

That increase in claims is not unexpected – with the healthcare sector making up the bulk of the applications.

“Around 1,005 allowed claims out of healthcare and social services which makes up 73 per cent I believe of our allowed claims roughly,” Houghton said. “And so – not surprisingly given that the public health data is painting the same picture.”

“A majority of our outbreaks are happening in the public healthcare settings and so I think its not surprising that that’s where the majority of claims are coming out of. After that they drop off substantially in other sectors.”

In the early months of the pandemic more claims were denied because there were more people filing for compensation who had never actually got sick – but who had to miss work due to COVID exposure.

Houghton says those types of claims are rare these days as there are government programs like the sickness benefit to cover people who cannot but never got sick.