ADN

THE CORONAVIRUS AID, RELIEF, AND ECONOMIC SECURITY (CARES) ACT:
9 Provides direct assistance to individuals
and families that need it most.
Under the bill, a typical middle-class
family of four would get $3,400 to
help them meet their daily expenses.
9 Includes emergency funds for food and
nutrition programs so families can continue
to get that help if they need it.
9 Provides immediate assistance to
childcare providers to prevent them
from going out of business and supports
childcare for families, including
for healthcare workers, first responders,
and others playing critical roles
during this crisis.
9 Provides cash-flow assistance to small
businesses through federally guaranteed
loans, with certain expenses
eligible for forgiveness if employers
maintain their payrolls through this
emergency.
9 Creates a temporary pandemic unemployment
assistance program to
give assistance to workers who aren’t
normally eligible for unemployment
benefits, such as the self-employed or
independent contractors.
9 Ensures that testing and the eventual
vaccine for coronavirus patients will
be covered by private insurance.
9 Includes $100 billion in support for
hospitals and health care providers and
provides flexibility for them to receive
both prospective payments and reimbursement
for costs associated with
coronavirus, including lost revenues.
9 Gives health care providers more capabilities
to offer telehealth services.
9 Provides an additional $16 billion to
procure personal protective equipment,
ventilators, and other medical
supplies for federal and state response
efforts.
9 Allows the Secretary of Education to
defer student loan payments, enables
students who were forced to drop
out of school due to coronavirus to
keep their Pell Grants, and gives colleges
and universities the flexibility to
continue work-study payments to students
who cannot work due to coronavirus
closures;
9 Provides funding for elementary and
secondary schools that can be released
quickly to states to help schools
respond to coronavirus and related
school closures, including immediate
needs of students and teachers, improving
use of education technology,
supporting distance education, and
making up for lost learning time; and
9 Stabilizes major sectors of the economy
without putting taxpayers on the
hook for giant bailouts.
Small Business Emergency Loans Guide
and Checklist
Guide to Employee Retention Tax Credit
Disaster Loan Assistance
CORONAVIRUS & INSURANCE POLICIES – WILL INSURANCE COVER A COVID-19 CLAIM?
Government ordered quarantining,
shelter-in-place, and nonessential business
shutdowns are creating economic
losses for businesses. Many organizations
are asking if their business interruption
policy will cover loss of income.
• Loss of Business Income
Coverage: Business income and
business property coverages depend
on the cause of loss. Insurance
Services Office (ISO) Form CP 10
30 Causes of Loss – Special Form
is common. It defines covered cause
of loss to mean “direct physical loss”
unless otherwise limited or excluded.
Form CP 10 30 also contains an
exclusion for damage caused by
“fungus,” “bacteria,” and “wet rot.
• Contingent Business
Interruption: Coverage to
compensate for losses due to supply
chain interruption and/or partner/
vendor losses that impact the
insured.
• General Liability Coverage:
Liability insurers typically agree to
indemnify the insured for damages
that the insured becomes legally
obligated to pay as the result of an
occurrence. ISO Form CG 00 01 -
Occurrence is defined as an accident
(unexpected and unintended), including
continuous or repeated exposure
to substantially the same harmful
condition. However, many policies are
endorsed with limitations for damage
or injury caused by fungi and bacteria.
• Workers’ Compensation:
The determination of whether a
communicable disease is “workrelated”
is a case-by-case evaluation.
• Health Insurance: Under
Families First Coronavirus Response
Act [FFRCA], all comprehensive
private health insurance plans must
cover testing approved by the Food
and Drug Administration (FDA),
and vaccination once it becomes
available.
• Other types of potential
losses:
• Contamination to business property:
• Pollution or Environmental
insurance
• Commercial General Liability
insurance with pollution/
environmental coverage
• Employee claims against the
business:
• Workers’ Compensation
insurance
• Employment Practices Liability
insurance (EPLI)
• Cybersecurity breaches:
• Property insurance
• Cyber Liability insurance
• Personal injury, and third-party
property damage, claims against the
business [e.g., alleged negligence
leading to virus exposure]
• Commercial General Liability
insurance
• Errors & Omissions Liability
insurance
• Pollution or Environmental
insurance
COVID-19 is uncharted territory for
insurance policy analysis since traditional
insurance policies did not contemplate pandemics
when originally drafting coverage.
Policy language varies, so there really
are no universal answers about whether
a COVID-19 loss will be covered. Most
policies will have exclusions for contamination,
pandemics, bacteria or viruses,
or the exercise of civil authority.
Each insured’s loss scenario and policy
are unique. If you believe you have
a covered loss, contact your insurance
agent/broker to submit a claim under
the policy in a timely manner to be reviewed
for coverage determination.
In conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic
caught the world off-guard. Governments
have launched unprecedented
public-health and economic responses.
And it’s evolving by the day.
It’s truly a test of patience as we adapt
to a new normal and await an ending to
its wrath before we will know and understand
the precise impact on human life,
and the global economy this pandemic
crisis created. We are all in this together.
Kimberly Grizzle, AAI, is the Marketing and
Business Development Strategist for The
Insurancenter, an agency that was founded
in 1895 as a full service independent
insurance agency serving the four state
region of Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and
Arkansas. A national car wash insurance
program was introduced in 1986. It has
maintained the largest writer of car wash
insurance policies.
Grizzle received her Property and Casualty
license in 1996, and an Accredited Advisor in
Insurance (AAI) designation in 2002. She has
been with The Insurancenter for 16+ years.
VOL. 5, NO.2 • SUMMER 2020 | AUTO DETAILING NEWS | 23