Monday, February 22, 2021 You are a policyholder whose business has been decimated by COVID-19. You tender a claim to your insurer under your policy—which does not contain a virus, communicable disease, or pandemic exclusion—for business interruption losses based upon the presence of COVID-19 at the insured properties. In response, your insurer denies coverage on the bases, among others, that COVID-19 exposure implicates exclusions in your policy for pollution or contamination. For example, some property policies contain an exclusion that includes language such as “[t]he actual, alleged or threatened release, discharge, escape or dispersal of pollutants or contaminants, all whether direct or indirect, proximate or remote or in whole or in part caused by, contributed to or aggravated by any covered cause of loss under this Policy” and purport to define “pollutants or contaminants” as any “solid, liquid, gaseous or thermal irritant or contaminant, including smoke, vapor, soot, fumes, acids, alkalis, chemicals and waste, which after its release can cause or threaten damage to human health or human welfare or causes or threatens damage, deterioration, loss of value, marketability or loss of use to property insured hereunder, including, but not limited to, bacteria, virus, or hazardous substances.”