Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Georgia Workers' Compensation Bar has eagerly awaited the first published case concerning the compensability of COVID-19 claims. Leading up to the Award in Roper v. Jasper County, there were a number of unanswered questions, particularly concerning the theory of compensability claimants will seek benefits under. Given that COVID-19 is a disease caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2, one would naturally look to the Occupational Disease Statute under O.C.G.A. § 34-9-280. The statute reads:

“Occupational disease” means those diseases which arise out of and in the course of the particular trade, occupation, process, or employment in which the employee is exposed to such disease, provided the employee or the employee's dependents first prove to the satisfaction of the State Board of Workers' Compensation all of the following:

1. A direct causal connection between the conditions under which the work is performed and the disease;

2. That the disease followed as a natural incident of exposure by reason of the employment;

3. That the disease is not of a character to which the employee may have had substantial exposure outside of the employment;

4. That the disease is not an ordinary disease of life to which the general public is exposed;

5. That the disease must appear to have had its origin in a risk connected with the employment and to have flowed from that source as a natural consequence.

Without even addressing sub-sections (A), (B),...

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