Risk & Business Magazine JGS Insurance - Fall 2020 | Page 28

PANDEMIC UNCERTAINTY
If anything has become certain during
the pandemic, it may just be how
uncertain everything is going to be
from one day to the next. With the
exact details of COVID-19 changing
from month to month, certain areas
being hit much harder than others, and
guidance from local, state, and federal
government sources not only changing
on a weekly basis but also (often)
seemingly contradicting themselves
and medical sources, it is a time when
uncertainty has become the norm. For
many communities, this leaves a lot of
questions on the table, many of them
with answers so steeped in legalese that it
would take months to decipher them.
When it comes down to it, the goal of any
community is to protect the residents of
the community and the community itself.
Consider some of the following:
• Is reopening as soon as possible in
the best interest of the community?
Just because guidelines allow for
a location to reopen does not
necessarily mean it is a good idea to
do so. In fact, as time has come to
show, many areas that have reopened
early are quickly walking those steps
back in the other direction.
• What is the interest of the
community in opening? Costs?
Budgetary reasons?
• If the decision has been made to
PANDEMIC, UNCERTAINTY, AND THE
TREACHEROUS WATERS OF
COMMUNITY LIVING
reopen, a plan needs to be formed.
Review all mandates and apply them
to the governing documents of the
community. Consult with legal
counsel, vendors, and other relevant
parties. Have a written plan of
action that is to be implemented in a
consistent and uniform manner.
Of these three, budgetary reasons may be
the largest driver to open back up, and it
is also the most complex. For one thing,
budgets are not a fly-by-night procedure.
A budget for a community organization
is often made months or years in advance,
and the current situation has quite
literally turned everything on its head.
It is next to impossible to account for
budgetary concerns when there is no
clear path back to normalcy.
From liability and risk management
perspectives, brokers and agents meeting
with their clients in these communities
have a whole other set of issues. There
are simply liabilities floating around
out there which cannot be covered. The
virus itself is the most obvious example.
Following the same path, privacy issues
stemming from misconfigured or misused
communication apps can be a problem as
well. Who is responsible for those?
These issues are only the tip of the
iceberg. Given the current state of
things—that is, the current state of
uncertainty—it makes more sense to
simply stay closed and wait than to run
the risk and try to open back up.
What is your community doing to handle
these issues? Have you tried to open back
up? Do you have a plan in place for when
you are able to? If not, we can help. +
BY: ROSS E. RUTMAN, CLCS, CPIA
ASSISTANT VICE PRESIDENT
JGS INSURANCE
Ross Rutman began his career in the
property management industry 15 years
ago.
While working within various
departments including operations,
information technology, condominium
management and insurance; Ross
decided to pursue his passion and
joined JGS Insurance. For the past three
years Ross has represented the JGS
marketing team by working alongside
our sales, service and management side
of our business. He strives to provide a
consultative approach and proactive
services to our clients.
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