Insurance companies won’t cover communicable disease or ‘civil commotion’ but now offer cancellation coverage for virtual events 

Amos

Feb. 5, 2021
By Kathryn Walson 

The Transportation Intermediaries Association was one of the lucky associations that had communicable disease coverage in 2020. The Alexandria, Va.-based group was reimbursed for lost revenue after it canceled its annual conference in Austin, Texas, because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Before the pandemic, communicable disease coverage was offered as optional “add-on” coverage. Some associations bought it, and others chose not to.

But insurers stopped offering the coverage in January 2020, and it will likely remain unavailable for several years. When communicable disease coverage does return, it will probably be “really, really expensive,” said Jack Cook, president of Cook and Kocher Insurance Group in Park Ridge, Ill.