Risk & Business Magazine JGS Insurance - Fall 2020 | Page 30

BUMMER SUMMER
The Bummer
Summer
BY: ROBIN MANOUGIAN, CIRMS
VICE PRESIDENT
JOHN MANOUGIAN INSURANCE AGENCY,
A DIVISION OF JGS INSURANCE
The early days of COVID-19
seemed like a long snow day.
Businesses shut down and
restaurants closed. Were it not
for the specter of the unseen
threat around us, the empty grocery shelves
might have signaled the familiar forecast for
snow. But there was no snow, just the eerie
quiet, the unease of unrelenting news, and
the recounting with friends the last “normal”
day we had, much like one might remember
where he was on 9/11.
March and April remained cold in many
areas, and the lingering chill delayed
thoughts of pool season – unless of course
you manage or insure a community
association. As the early spring days passed,
and Covid surged on, canceling school and
life as we knew it, community associations
with swimming pools, open only a few
treasured months a year in many locales,
were faced with making tough decisions
about opening. For many areas, opening
on time wasn’t a choice. State and local
jurisdictions using a 1-2-3 phased approach
kept pools and gyms closed. Phase 2, which
some areas remained in as of the end of
August, allowed pool openings, but with
capacity restrictions calculated in Maryland,
for example, by dividing the square footage
surface area of a pool by 36 to ensure six feet
of separation between pool patrons.
For those that chose to open, the cleaning
and use requirements were rigid, preceded
with an array of questions about liability,
possible claims scenarios, and whether
insurance would protect an association if
a member or visitor should claim to have
picked up the virus at the community’s
facilities.
At one time uncharted territory, insurance
professionals have become proficient
in ticking off lists of suggested do’s and
don’ts when it comes to opening pools and
fitness rooms and any place where surfaces
could expose someone to the virus. The
prospect of cleaning means added expense
and manpower that many insureds have
found difficult to maintain without any
certainty of preventing transmission. Agents
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