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Re:Japan to subsidize 100% of salaries at small companies by Anon1096 on Sunday April 26, 2020 @02:52AM (#22985127)
No insurers will underwrite against a nationwide shutdown caused by pandemic (or war or other meteor strike or any other similar economy-halting event). They'd literally go bankrupt the second they start paying out because the idea of insurance is that not everyone tries to cash out at the same time. That's why you typically see all these plans, business interruption insurance included, make exceptions for exceptional events.

And before someone links the Wimbledon, they have bargaining power beyond most companies' capabilities, and their insurance was custom written. There's no way standard businesses will ever be able to get insured against pandemics.

Re:Japan to subsidize 100% of salaries at small companies by Retric on Sunday April 26, 2020 @09:22AM (#22986955)
Plenty of options where out there ex:

PathogenRX, a product it launched in 2018 to provide financial protection to companies hit by an infectious disease outbreak in the United States and Asia. The product includes a policy underwritten by Munich Re, one of the world's biggest providers of cover to protect insurers against big losses. Sales had been slow, partly because the insurance was viewed as expensive given the risk, Christian Ryan, the head of US hospitality, sports and gaming at Marsh, told CNN Business. But the coronavirus pandemic is rapidly changing that perception, he said. https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/19/business/pandemic-insurance-c...

It was considered expensive specifically because companies where underestimate the risks.

The target industries for this product are Hospitality & Gaming, Travel & Tourism, Aviation, Public Entity, Education, Real Estate, Sports & Events and Retail/Wholesale Food & Beverage. https://www.marsh.com/us/campaigns/pathogenrx.html

Well doesn’t that sound exactly like the industry’s at risk during a shutdown.