COVID-19 will share the halls of history with other notable pandemics like the Black Plague and Polio. The coronavirus has dramatically shifted the entire spectrum of our species, from economics and healthcare to cultural expression and travel. It has, in a certain sense, illustrated our human vulnerabilities and the delicate foundation that our modern way of life stands on.

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As of May 5th, 2022, there have been nearly 513 Million reported positive cases of COVID-19 worldwide, and over 6.2 Million reported COVID-19 related deaths. Those are staggering numbers and yet they do not account for the unreported positive cases and deaths, which leading virology scientists estimate would grow these numbers substantially. While the global community has collectively exhaled a small sigh of relief and started returning to business-as-usual, the threat of COVID-19 has not disappeared.

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We here at Insured Nomads are passionate about travel just like you, and we want to ensure that you follow your love for adventure with a partner that protects you from the beginning to the end of your journey. Our travel insurance protects you from financial hardship in the event you contract or test positive for COVID-19 while abroad and provides you with peace of mind that you will not be abandoned or left to navigate the uncertainties it brings alone.

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COVID Defined 

COVID is an acronym that stands for Coronavirus Disease, with 19 representing the year it was first discovered in Wuhan, China. The disease is caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Similar to the common cold or the flu, COVID-19 most often causes respiratory symptoms such as Pneumonia, cough, congestion, body aches, fatigue, and fever, which can range from very mild to very severe symptoms. Many people infected with the disease end up being asymptomatic, meaning they carry and transmit the virus, yet they do not experience any symptoms.

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Asymptomatic carriers of COVID-19 can spread the disease to others without even realizing it, and has been one reason COVID-19 has spread despite all of the mitigating efforts by governments, healthcare providers, businesses, and scientists. Determining how influential asymptomatic spread has been to the total number of positive cases is difficult to determine, nonetheless, it remains a threat not to be taken lightly, especially to travelers. 

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Aside from asymptomatic carriers, COVID has proven to be a highly adaptive and intelligent virus, mutating itself to overcome and bypass vaccines, natural immunity, and environmental mitigation efforts. Various variants have emerged since the beginning of the pandemic, with the Delta and Omicron variants being the two most notable of them all. This trait is not unique only to COVID and is a common characteristic of many viruses. 

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David Quammen, a virologist and author of the book Spillover: Animal Infections and The Next Human Pandemic, describes this viral behavior as opportunity. He predicted back in 2012 that a novel coronavirus would be the cause of the next global pandemic. He was right. He explains that when viruses jump from host to host they encounter new immune systems and defenses, and they, in turn, assimilate that knowledge, spread to a new host, and mutate over time to adapt and overcome those defenses in order to survive. 

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A virus must find the perfect balance of transmissibility, immune defense, and symptomatic severity in order to survive, which may explain why new COVID variants like Omicron are more transmissible but tend to have less severe symptoms. Unfortunately, this pattern suggests COVID does not intend to go and hide back under the rock it came from any time soon.

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The Purpose of Travel Insurance

Life, health, home, and auto. These are the core insurance plans we have at home providing us with priceless financial security. Life insurance is for those who live and we purchase it to ensure that we continue to fulfill our promise of a favored future for our families after we are gone. Auto insurance’s most important protection is personal liability. Sure we want our car back up and running, but it is the personal liability that can jeopardize our financial security the most and so we protect it with an auto plan that insulates us from wrongful death and injury lawsuits. 

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Health insurance helps cover the ever-rising costs of healthcare, and homeowners insurance helps mitigate the costs of damages to our homes. Your health insurance company can also provide you with reimbursement for necessary medical care for covered reasons, including the coronavirus pandemic.

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Our way of life hinges on us properly protecting our assets from catastrophe, and when we set out on global adventures, many of these core insurance plans remain at home, leaving us vulnerable to life’s unpredictable nature. 

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With this blog being focused on COVID, it’s important to emphasize your need to have health insurance as a traveling companion that provides you with health protection while you are abroad, especially with the knowledge that your healthcare plan or insurance at home may not follow you across international borders.

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Why Buy Travel Insurance That Covers Covid?

As we mentioned earlier, asymptomatic people carrying COVID-19 can be infectious to others, and because they are unaware of their infection they essentially become silent spreaders of the disease. As recently as this month a cruise out of California experienced widespread infections of COVID, despite all of the testing, vaccination requirements, and steps taken to prevent COVID from making it onboard. Many travelers aboard the ship would not have known they were infected absent a COVID-19 test proving it.

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While informed steps are taken by travelers, travel companies like airlines and cruise lines, businesses, and governments around the world to prevent and reduce the spread of COVID, the disease is currently too transmissible to completely eradicate, and these mitigation efforts can never be bulletproof. Hence the importance of purchasing travel insurance plans that provide you and your fellow travelers with healthcare and travel assistance in the event you become infected while abroad.  

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Insured Nomad Tavel Insurance Coverage for COVID FAQs

If traveling to the United States from outside of the country, our travel insurance policies provide the amount of the medical benefits selected in your policy in medical-related trip cost coverage for COVID-19 contracted while you are in the United States of America (rather than your destination country), as long as you have not already been diagnosed with the disease. Testing positive for COVID prior to your arrival in the U.S. would be considered an exclusion as a pre-existing condition.

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For Canadian and U.S. travelers, our travel insurance provides medical expense coverage for non-refundable trip costs related to COVID-19 contracted while you are abroad as long as you are not traveling to a country on the U.S. State Department “Level 4: Do Not Travel” list. With the aforementioned exception only, COVID-19 benefits are fully in force in Level 3 or lower countries as identified by the U.S. State Department. 

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In addition, some countries have their own regulations in place for quarantining during international travel, including Thailand, Israel, Costa Rica, and Argentina.

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Should a country be moved to Level 4 while you are there, enacting travel bans and leading to a trip interruption, trip delay, or trip cancellation, COVID-19 is no longer a covered trip benefit but all other medical benefits are still provided. A comprehensive list of these countries can be found on the U.S. State Department’s website, an important resource for international travel as a U.S. resident.

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Coverage for other accidents and illnesses remains in force even if COVID-19 pandemic benefits are no longer included in your policy due to a change in the Travel Advisory level to Level 4 by the U.S. State Department.

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What Are Coverages From COVID-19 Travel Insurance?

We have mentioned coverages a few times in this blog as well as other trip insurance terms and we realize that travel medical insurance services may not be very familiar to you. With this understanding, we have made it a mission in our company to simplify our insurance contracts to be less complicated than traditional insurance contracts. 

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Coverages are simply the covered perils that your insurance plan with Insured Nomads insures against. For example, with our travel insurance health coverage, you are covered for the peril of contracting COVID-19 and any related emergencies it causes, such as the need for emergency medicine related to severe symptoms or an emergency medical evacuation back to your home country, while you are traveling abroad, assuming you are not in a U.S. State Department Level 4 classified nation, such as Ukraine. 

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The State Department updates its travel advisories frequently, so it is important to check on any nation you plan to visit or travel to before embarking. We caution you to avoid assuming a country is not classified as a Level 4 advisory simply because of its political structure, relationship with the United States, or geographic location. As of this writing, for instance, the United Kingdom is currently listed as a Level 2 travel advisory due to security concerns involving terrorism and a rise in COVID infections. 

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The Insured Nomad’s Difference

Founded by insurance professionals who share your passion for studying, living, and working abroad, we are more than just a company capitalizing on your need for travel insurance. Instead, we are a team of passionate Nomads who love to travel and understand the enormous benefit of having travel protection and medical coverage while abroad. 

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For us, the passion to experience the various beauty and cultures of our global community comes first, and insurance is second. We believe that we are all connected and made better by sharing and embracing our differences. It is these differences that unite us as one global body of Earth’s citizens. National borders only visible on maps do not limit us from sharing in one another’s cultural beauty. 

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Our insurance products have been simplified for easier navigation, and we are always ready for any assistance you may need on the journey. Whether it be from London to Charlotte, Tokyo to Berlin, or Rome to Shanghai, we have your back. 

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Travel With Confidence

Travel insurance from Insured Nomads gives you the confidence you need to explore our beautiful planet and all of its cultures with safety, assurance, and with a trusted partner who shares your passion for exploration. COVID has taught us that we cannot take our modern liberties and capabilities to travel, work remotely, and pursue global enlightenment for granted. Travel insurance has always been important, and the threat posed by COVID has increased that importance ten-fold. 

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Our traveling Nomads never go it alone, and we promise to be with you every step of the way. Insurance in all of its various forms insulates you from financial catastrophe and hardships, and all for what we call just pennies on the Euro. 

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You have many choices when it comes to who you trust with this enormous responsibility, and we believe you will find that our shared passion for adventure and global discovery makes us the best choice for you and your family.

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About Insured Nomads   

Insured Nomads is the first to take an integrated traveltech, fintech and insurtech solution to the world for remote workers, globally distributed teams, expats, and travelers. Their purpose is to make travel as safe and smart as staying at home. They do this by providing health insurance with exceptional medical benefits in tandem with wellbeing, safety, security, and advanced tech-enabled solutions for ease of payment for healthcare, emergency response and evacuation. Insured Nomads is available through affinity relationships, direct, embedded and through select brokers and partners for groups and individuals. 

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Information on integration, collaboration and partnership contact Brett Estep: brett@insurednomads.com

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When researching destinations and travel, Try Peanut - a free google chrome extension. It automatically displays travel requirements, visa rules and more on booking.com, expedia & google flights.

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Sources:

WHO Coronavirus (COVID-19) Dashboard | WHO

Global prediction of unreported SARS-CoV2 infection from observed COVID-19 cases | PMC 

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) | WHO 

Basics of COVID-19 | Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 

What the data say about asymptomatic COVID infections | Nature 

Carnival Cruise Ship Passengers Say COVID Overwhelmed Ship | Washington News | US News 

Travel Advisories | US State Department 

Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic by David Quammen | The OECD Forum Network