Our human resource team, led by Noreen Dishart, worked tirelessly to shape and execute the remote work plan that allowed 95% of our employees to work from home.
For the second quarter, we reported a net loss of $18.1 million or a loss of $0.34 per share and an operating loss of $32.4 million or $0.60 per share.
Accordingly, the $18.6 million loss in the current quarter from our LPs and LLCs is a result of the impact of the disruption in global financial markets during the first quarter due to COVID-19.
We've recorded consolidated net realized investment gains of $20 million in the second quarter.
This was driven by increases in the fair value of our equity portfolio and convertible securities as financial markets began to stabilize following the initial shock of the pandemic, representing a recovery in fair value of approximately 40% since the first quarter.
Excluding the impacts of these items, the consolidated current accident year net loss ratio decreased 1.5 percentage points, driven by our Specialty Property & Casualty and Lloyd's Syndicates segment, partially offset by higher current accident year net loss ratio in our Workers' Compensation Insurance segment.
We've recognized $17.1 million in net favorable prior accident year development, stemming from all of our segments other than the Lloyd's segment.
Our consolidated underwriting expense ratio was 28.3% in the second quarter, a decrease of 1.7 percentage points from the year ago period, driven by the effect of the tail premium earned associated with the large national healthcare account.
This leads us to a combined ratio of 130.1% for the second quarter.
The Specialty Property & Casualty segment recorded a second quarter loss of $56.6 million, primarily due to a tail policy issued to a large national healthcare account.
We recognized what we assume will be a full limits loss for this tail policy, which resulted in a $45.7 million net underwriting loss in the quarter.
The establishment of a $10 million reserve related to COVID-19 also contributed to the operating loss, which I'll expand upon shortly.
Gross premiums written were $107.1 million, a decrease of 16.3% quarter-over-quarter.
In relation to these strategic underwriting efforts, premium retention in the segment was 71% for the quarter, primarily driven by a 29% retention in our Specialty lines.
The lower Specialty retention was driven by the loss of two large accounts, representing premium writings of $11.8 million, which includes the aforementioned large national account.
Notably, the premium level for this book of business has been reduced by 75% in the past year.
In our Standard Physicians line, retention was 82%, primarily impacted by our state strategy pricing adjustments in challenging venues and competitive market conditions.
The lower premium retention was offset by renewal premium increases of 20% in Specialty and 12% in Physicians.
We are pleased to report strong premium retention results in our Medical Technology Liability business and Small Business Unit, which were 88% and 91% respectively.
New business writings in the Specialty Property & Casualty segment were $4.6 million in the quarter compared to $8.1 million in the second quarter of 2019.
New business writings in our Medical Technology business increased to $2 million compared to $1.3 million in the second quarter of 2019.
The current accident year net loss ratio was 137.7% in the second quarter, a 43.7 percent point [Phonetic] increase from the year ago period, primarily attributable to the large national account tail policy written in the quarter.
To a lesser extent, the increase also reflects the $10 million reserve related to COVID-19.
Excluding the COVID reserve and the impact of the national health account, the current accident year net loss ratio was 93%.
We've recognized net favorable prior year development of $15.4 million compared to $12.4 million in the prior year quarter.
The Specialty Property & Casualty segment reported an expense ratio of 19.9% in the second quarter, a 3.8-percentage point decrease from the same quarter in 2019.
The reduction in the expense ratio also reflects the incremental improvements during the past year due to organizational structure enhancements, improved operating efficiency, and expense reductions, offset by 0.4 percentage points of one-time charges related to restructuring costs.
To be more specific, we processed approximately $3.7 million of premium reductions and $5.3 million of premium deferrals during the quarter.
As previously mentioned, we established a $10 million COVID loss reserve.
The Workers' Compensation Insurance segment produced operating income of $1 million and a combined ratio of 98.7% for the second quarter of 2020.
During the quarter, the segment booked $57.2 million of gross premiums written, a decrease of 10.9% quarter-over-quarter.
Renewal price decreases were 4% for the quarter and are representative of the continued competitive pressures in our underwriting territories despite COVID-19 and the associated economic conditions.
Premium renewal retention was 87% for the 2020 quarter compared to 81% in 2019, as we continue to see stronger premium retention each month during the pandemic.
New business writings were relatively flat quarter-over-quarter at $6.5 million in 2020 compared to $6.6 million in 2019.
Audit premium for the second quarter of 2020 was approximately $200,000 compared to $1.2 million for 2019.
The calendar year loss ratio was consistent quarter-over-quarter, reflecting an increase in the current accident year loss ratio from 68.2% in 2019 to 70.6% in 2020, offset by higher prior-year net favorable development of $1.5 million in 2020 compared to $1.1 million in 2019.
Despite a 39% decrease in reported claim frequency during the pandemic, we concluded that it was prudent to continue recording a higher accident year loss ratio, given the many uncertainties surrounding COVID-19.
Our claims operation closed almost 35% of 2019 and prior claims during 2020, which is consistent with historical claim closing rates.
The underwriting expense ratio in the quarter was 31.7%, an increase of slightly less than 1 percentage point from the same quarter in 2019, primarily due to the decrease in net premiums earned, partially offset by a decrease in general expenses.
Moving to the Segregated Portfolio Cell Reinsurance segment, operating income was approximately $1.6 million for the quarter, which represents our share of the net underwriting profit and investment results of the segregated portfolio cell captive programs in which we participate to varying degrees.
Gross written premium and the SPC reinsurance segment decreased to $15 million for 2020 from $17 million in 2019.
This reflects premium renewal retention in 2020 of 87%, new business writings of $741,000, and renewal rate decreases of 5%.
Excluding the effect of the 2019 E&O policy discussed on previous calls, the SPC reinsurance 2020 calendar year loss ratio decreased from 52% in 2019 to 45.9% in 2020, the result of a decrease in the current accident year loss ratio, offset by slightly lower net favorable reserve development of $1.9 million in the quarter.
For mid-March to the end of July, we have endorsed 992 policies mid-term for a total premium reduction of $2.6 million.
We have processed 224 policy cancellations, resulting from business closures, which reduced our premiums by less than $1 million through the end of July.
To date, we have received less than 250 requests to defer premium installment payments on a policyholder base of more than 13,700.
We continue to monitor closely COVID demographics in our 19 core states that represent 99% of our in-force book of business.
According to data from the Center for Disease Control, as of the end of July, the combined number of cases reported from the largest county in each of our 19 core states represents approximately 17% of total COVID cases reported, while the number of cases reported from our largest county in these same 19 states is less than 8% of the total.
In our Workers' Compensation Insurance segment, we have 271 COVID cases reported as of July 31, with an undeveloped gross incurred value of approximately $1.3 million.
The total incurred on this claim represents approximately $550,000 of the $1.3 million.
In our Segregated Portfolio Cell Reinsurance segment, which contains more than half of our long-term care exposure, there are 236 COVID cases reported through July, with an undeveloped gross incurred of $400,000.
Of the four Senior Care programs in this segment, we have an ownership interest in just one, and that ownership is 25%.
The projections we disclosed in our Q1 release have held and we booked approximately $1.5 million related to the virus in the second quarter, net of reinsurance.
We estimate we will recognize an additional $1.4 million, net of reinsurance, in the third quarter of this year.
This was the first quarter in which our reduced participation in Syndicate 1729 came through our results, a change that brought down gross premiums written in the segment, but also one we expect will bring down volatility going forward.
Because of this reduced participation, we expect to receive a return of approximately $33 million of our funds at Lloyd's during the third quarter of 2020.

Summary:
For the second quarter, we reported a net loss of $18.1 million or a loss of $0.34 per share and an operating loss of $32.4 million or $0.60 per share.