05/06/21 National Safety Council Washington, DC — The full extent of the COVID-19 pandemic's effect on the nation's workforce will likely remain unclear because of the lack of a comprehensive national system to gather such information, according to the AFL-CIO's annual report on the state of safety and health protections for U.S. workers. The 30th edition of Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect – released May 4 – states that “employer reporting of COVID-19 cases still is mandatory only in a few states with specific standards or orders.” During a May 4 press conference, AFL-CIO Safety and Health Director Rebecca Reindel noted that the Bureau of Labor Statistics states on its website that it won't produce COVID-19 estimates.