INCREASED DEMAND FOR CLEANING PRODUCT & SHELF-STABLE FOODS

• Since the COVID-19 outbreak, cleaning products have become a priority item for shoppers, and this has led to a massive demand for the products. According to a report, 30% of the United States shoppers buy hand sanitizers, 28% purchase disinfecting wipes, 25% shop for household cleaners/disinfectants, and 24% buy antibacterial hand soap.
• Shelf-stable foods like canned foods and bottled water also account for 20 & 22% of all shopping in the United States, a direct result of the sudden need to stockpile enough groceries at home to last through the stay-indoor period.
• In terms of sales volume, hand sanitizer sales have jumped by 313%, 114.5% for medical masks, 59.6% for bath & shower wipes, and 52.3% for first aid kits due to the increase in sensitization against the virus and as details of COVID-19 related death emerged in the United States.

PRODUCT SCARCITY

• CPG companies in the United States that rely on raw materials from China will experience production problems and scarcity due to the lock down of factories in China. Procter & Gamble already announced that 17, 600 products could be affected by the COVID-19 outbreak.
• The increased demand for health & personal hygiene products due to panic buying of these supplies has far outweighed its supply. It has led to the shortage of supplies like toilet paper, wipes, face masks, etc., in the market.

DISRUPTION OF SUPPLY CHAIN

• Companies that manufacture CPG could experience labor shortage and face potential supply problems as the demand for their products increases in local stores, but deliveries are delayed or suspended due to the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States. Some companies could even find themselves without enough workforce to continue the production of goods.
• A lot of food supplies like garlic, apple juice, and seafood, which are imported from China where factories have been closed, will experience a disruption in the supply chain of such goods in the United States.
• For some companies that manufacture two or more CPG, they now forgo the production of most goods and focus mainly on making scarce commodities available while neglecting the supply of other products.

ADDRESSING THE CHALLENGES/OPPORTUNITIES

• Due to the overwhelming demand for hand sanitizers, some companies are now redirecting their resources into the production of hand sanitizers and other disinfectants.
• Some companies are practicing social distancing and have instructed their employees to work from home to contain the virus and stop the possibility of their employees getting infected. For example, Proctor & Gamble has instructed its employees to work from home till the end of March 2020.

RESEARCH STRATEGY

RETAIL CLOSURES

• As people take steps to distance themselves socially in line with national medical guidance, this is having a double-pronged effect on telecom retail locations. The reduced footfall and consumer trade are rendering locations financially unviable. The concern of employees for their personal health and that of family members produces difficulty in maintaining staffing for such outlets.
• In response, many telecoms businesses are implementing measures to mitigate the issues detailed above. T-Mobile has temporarily closed 80% of its U.S. stores, Sprint has closed approximately 71% of their stores and whilst Verizon is only closing circa 20% of stores they're closing stores on Sundays, reducing store opening hours on other days, and will limit the number of employees and customers in stores at any one time.

FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR CUSTOMERS

• The economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis has been swift and widespread, as 1 in 5 American households have experienced a layoff or reduction in working hours since the onset of the disease. This has repercussions for both consumers' ability to pay and their willingness to continue acquiring products or services.
• Verizon has responded by announcing that the company will waive late payment fees incurred by residential and small business customers over the next 60 days due to economic circumstances related to the coronavirus. Verizon has also asserted that they will not terminate service to either of those customer groups because of an inability to pay their service bills.
• In an effort to remove barriers to new business Verizon is currently waiving activation fees on new lines of service and upgrade fees for purchases made via digital channels.
• These measures are mirrored in the Federal Communications Commission's Keep Americans Connected pledge which helps customers in three ways for at least the next 60 days: not cut off service to residential or small business customers, waive late fees incurred, and the opening of Wi-Fi hotspots. To date, 185 broadband and telecom providers are committed to the pledge, including Sprint, AT&T, and T-Mobile.

NETWORK DEMAND AND CAPACITY

• As part of social distancing measures employees have been urged to work from home where possible and the education system is taking steps to implement remote/online learning. Together this is producing a regular demand on telecom networks at times previously unaffected by such a surge.
• Verizon has asserted that their fiber optic and wireless networks have been able to meet this shift in demand, however, where there has been a significant increase in usage, they have been required to deploy engineers to provide added capacity to meet customers’ demand.
• In addition, Verizon has obtained approval from the Federal Communications Commission to borrow AWS-3 spectrum licenses from two Dish Network affiliates, at no cost, which will significantly increase Verizon's mobile network capacity.
• Similarly, T-Mobile has acquired previously unused airwave licenses held by Dish, Comcast, and others to expand LTE capacity for Americans to work and school from home. This has allowed T-Mobile to multiply its low-band 4G capacity by up to six times.
•  Sprint has also increased coverage for their customers, mainly in rural areas through a 4G LTE roaming agreement with T-Mobile.

Impact on Supply and Demand

• COVID-19 has directly impacted firms in the financial industry by decreasing consumer activities.
• This means that fewer customers are seeking services from financial institutions and this has led to reduced demand for banking and wealth management services.
• Financial goods such as bank stocks have declined as the crisis spreads. For instance, the shares of JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley have declined by more than 25% since the beginning of 2020. This means that the banks' products are not in high demand any more due to the crisis.
• Firms are consequently experiencing a decline in revenues.

Impact on U.S. Treasury Yields

• The U.S. Treasury is backed by the American government and is usually considered to be a solid and safe investment.
• However, Deloitte reported that 10-year bond yields have declined to a historic low of below 0.5%. This is because financial markets are pricing contracts based on a worst-case scenario, leading to increased volatility.
• The Federal Reserve has responded to the compression in bond yields by reducing its interest in order to generate maximum efficacy from rate cuts.

Impact on Liquidity

• Banks are facing liquidity challenges such as limited access to credit.
• The probability of default has consequently increased as bank clients face challenges in repaying their loans.
• These defaults will be particularly near in the speculative grade of corporate debt.
• Additionally, private debt from companies and individuals has significantly increased due to the crisis, with approximately one-half of the investment-grade market already having a triple-B rating.
• This means that financial companies are unable to quickly convert any assets that they hold into ready cash without affecting the market price.

Addressing the Challenges and Opportunities of COVID-19

• U.S. banks and wealth investment firms have established business continuity and contingency plans to ensure they remain sustainable even after the crisis. For instance, employees are working from home or from split work sites to avoid unnecessary risks. This enables them to stay safe while they continue to provide services to their clients.
• Banks have requested industry regulators such as SEC to lighten capital requirements and rules of financial reporting so that firms can have some relief during the crisis.
• Conversely, banks are using the crisis as an opportunity to extend loans to hard-hit borrowers and to renegotiate the terms of loans. This will enable customers to survive the crisis with the help of their banks, and enable banks to maintain customer loyalty in the long term.

Research Strategy

US Retailers are Closing Stores

• According to WWD, one impact that COVID-19 is having on the US retail industry is that it has led to the temporary closure of retail stores. Several major retailers in the U.S. have announced that they are temporarily closing stores to assist in reducing the spread of COVID-19. These include Nike, Nordstrom, H&M, Apple, Macy’s, Chanel, Walmart, Ralph Lauren, Lululemon, Sephora, and Glossier.
•  Glossier was among the first companies to close its retail stores due to COVID-19. As per The Verge, the retailer has closed its shops in New York, Atlanta, and Los Angeles for two weeks, beginning on the 12th of March. It will pay employees for the closure period.
• The CEO of Glossier, Emily Weiss, stated that the shop closures meant that the company had sacrificed some of its business goals for the sake of public health.
•  Tuft & Needle, which primarily operates online as a direct-to-consumer business, is also closing its six retail stores in cities such as Seattle, Scottsdale, and Raleigh.
• The bra selling retailer ThirdLove also closed its pop-up store in New York, with CEO Heidi Zak stating that the uncertainty brought about by COVID-19 had forced the company to change its strategy, and it no longer "planned to support a retail strategy for the business.”

Reduced Traffic as Americans Stop Buying Nonessential

• According to Retail Dive, another impact that COVID-19 is having on the US retail industry is that Americans are foregoing the purchase of nonessential items. This has led to a decline in traffic and reduced the volume of sales. Statistics from Morgan Stanley revealed that total retail traffic in early March fell by 9.1%, retail traffic for luxury items decreased by 14.7%, and retail traffic for apparel declined by 3.9%.
• Retail Dive states that for essential retailers, such as pharmacies and groceries, traffic is predictably up. However, traffic for non-essentials has decreased around 30%-40%, and the situation is likely to worsen and continue for most of 2020. Many retailers for nonessential goods are lowering their sales forecasts for 2020 as a result.

Low Supply of Retail Goods

• Another impact that COVID-19 is having on the US retail industry is that retailers are facing stock shortages. According to CNBC, the disruption in the supply chain is already affecting the shipment of items to retailers to sell during the back-to-school season. Many retailers make most of their profits during holidays, and if COVID-19 continues to spread, it could affect the holidays and the profits they make.
• China, which has been severely affected by COVID-19, plays a vital role in getting items onto the shelves of retailers in the U.S. CNBC states that around 20% of the supply chain for retailers in the U.S. are exposed to the situation in China.
• Some consumers have reacted to the low supply of goods by hoarding household essentials. Panic buying poses a challenge to retailers’ supply chains as "store shelves are cleared more quickly than usual and workers must race to keep up." The National Retail Federation and the Retail Industry Leaders Association have also urged consumers to shop responsibly and stop hoarding household essentials.

Increased Online Sales for Health Products

• COVID-19 is increasing sales for health products in the U.S. According to Digital Commerce 360, "online sales have increased 52% compared with the same time frame a year ago, and the number of online shoppers has increased 8.8%" since COVID-19 started spreading, as per data from Quantum Metric. Bloomreach, a site search provider, observed an increase in sales for its retailer clients like Albertsons Cos.
• Compared to previous weeks, COVID-19 has led to a 590% increase in sales for masks, a 420% increase in sales for hand sanitizers, a 184% increase in sales for Clorox/Lysol wipes, a 178% increase in sales for disinfectants, and a 151% increase in sales for gloves, among other items.
•  Debrief Me, which sells masks on DebriefMe.com, revealed that its sales have grown 10 times since the coronavirus threat became public.

How Companies are Addressing the Challenges / Opportunities

•  Debrief Me sells masks from a Chinese manufacturer. According to the retailer’s founder and CEO, Matt E Silver, when supply chain issues began to arise, the retailer was able to think ahead and “moved its products from China to its Georgia fulfillment center before the factories began to shut down in China.”
• Although production resumed at the company’s China factory, it is not working at full capacity. This is because some workers have not returned to work and products are trickling in slowly. Debrief Me has tried to address the challenge by starting the manufacture of masks in its Brooklyn-based production facility last week.
• It also plans to expand production to other parts of the U.S., which will help it to diversify its dependency on mask supply from outside the U.S.
• To address the low supply of goods and panic buying by consumers, some retailers have limited the number of items every customer can buy. H-E-B and Wegmans have prohibited customers from buying more than 12 popular food items, such as pasta, milk, bread, eggs, and frozen vegetables. Walmart is allowing its managers to limit purchases and has reduced opening hours to provide staff with enough time to restock shelves.
•  Target, Publix, and Kroger are also limiting how many COVID-19-related items customers can purchase. Target is limiting customers to six hand sanitizers and disinfectant wipes, while Publix is limiting the purchase of sanitizers, facial tissue, and masks to two.

Sales Volume

• New York restaurants have experienced a 30% decline in sales and cancellations have gone up by 45%.
• More restaurants continue to close down, albeit temporarily, due to the low sales volume recorded. They include fine dining temples such as Le Bernadin and Daniel, neighborhood restaurants such as Cervo’s and The Fly, among others.
• In Seattle, approximately 40 restaurants have had to close down due to a decline in sales. Some of these restaurants include 13 restaurants of chef Tom Douglas.
• High-end restaurants have also not been spared. Renowned restaurants such as chef Eduardo Jordan’s Salare and JuneBaby have been forced to pivot to delivery, while dining icons such as Canlis have turned into fast-casual drive-through restaurants.

Supply and Demand Issues

• According to an article published by the New York Times, the food supply chain remains intact. However, some food supply is being channeled from restaurants to grocery stores, school cafeterias, and college campuses that have had to shut down due to low demand.
• The food system in the U.S has always been big enough in terms of size and supply. However, the food supply chain continues to upend in restaurants, as consumers are avoiding eateries while clearing shelves in supermarkets.
• Farm vendors who supply food items to restaurants have been turned away and have had to re-channel deliveries to grocery stores at a reduced price.
• However, many restaurants are taking advantage of the rise in delivery demand, as customers are opting to stay at home and have food delivered to them. Domino's recently announced its plans to hire around 1,000 individuals spread across 100 stores situated in Chicago, and it predicts it will have up to 10,000 new job openings due to the outbreak.
• Also benefiting from the growth in delivery options is Papa Johns, which is experiencing a hiring spree. The company's CEO Rob Lynch stated that the pizza-delivery segment is "uniquely set up to persevere during these challenging times."

Measures Taken to Address COVID-19 in the U.S Restaurant Industry

• While the coronavirus has posed a threat to restaurants to a point where most have had to shut down, the few surviving ones are inventing solutions to stay afloat despite the crisis.

Sanitizing Surfaces

• Restaurants are using proactive measures to combat coronavirus, by ensuring that surfaces are as clean as possible. Through EPA approved disinfectants, restaurants are effectively killing SARS-CoV-2.
• Restaurants are paying special attention to surfaces that customers touch most. These surfaces include doors, light switches, air circulating systems, among others.
• The US restaurant industry is also offering antibacterial gloves to their employees, especially in cases where they handle cash, while others have gone cashless to reduce the chances of spreading the deadly virus.
• The Castellucci Hospitality Group-operated restaurants have recently gone cashless, including eateries such as Bar Mercado and Sugo Kitchen, while completely halting the use of cash transactions to help restrict the spread of COVID-19.
• Meanwhile, the fast-casual establishment Heritage Eats scrubbed down its eating surfaces, door handles, and tables to sanitize areas consumers may come into contact with.

Online Ordering/Delivery

• More restaurants and diners are encouraging online ordering to avoid human interaction while still maintaining their business.
• Online ordering and delivery have also increased since many people are avoiding crowded places by working at home. Social distancing is expected to go on and consequently increase online ordering and delivery until a cure or solution for handling the pandemic is found.
• Restaurants, through their online delivery services, are ensuring the highest standards of cleanliness to ensure that COVID-19 is not spread through contaminated food or containers. These standards are achieved by "closely following local and international health authority guidance."
• Many restaurants have began offering food delivery supplied by Grubhub, Uber Eats, DoorDash, Food Dudes, and Eat Streets in an effort to improve demand and encourage consumers to continue ordering food. These restaurants include Author’s Kitchen + Bar, Wooden Nickel Sports Bar, and Rico's Family Restaurant, as well as fast food chains like McDonald's, KFC, Arby's, etc.

Impact of COVID-19 on the Automotive Industry

• According to ALG, in a scenario where the automotive industry in the United States makes a recovery by April 2020, new vehicle sales will be around 16.4 million, a decrease of 500,000 units, or an equivalent of 2.9% decline from the initial forecast made before the Coronavirus crisis.
• If Coronavirus continues to spread for a longer period, new light vehicles sales will be around 14.5 million, a decrease of 2.4 million vehicles, or an equivalent of 14.2%, according to ALG.
• Coronavirus has affected consumer confidence and vehicle inventory availability in the United States, which in turn has impacted the automotive supply and demand levels. Fewer vehicles will be sold in 2020 than what was projected at the beginning of the year.

• General Motors (GM), Fiat Chrysler, and Ford have had to suspend production of automotive in the United States, Europe, and North America as a result of Coronavirus pandemic. This move will affect the ability of the industry to catch up on production levels and targets depending on how long the suspension will last.
• In the United States, automotive sales of March are already decreased by 38,000 vehicles, and the decline is expected to continue. Seattle saw an 18% decrease in automotive sales while San Francisco had a 17% decline.
• According to Adam Jonas, auto sales in the United States could reduce by 9% as consumers will choose to delay non-essential vehicle purchases.
• People with cars are bound to drive around more as a result of reduced mass transit systems, which will increase the mileage on vehicles, thereby increasing the servicing needs. Automotive servicing departments in the United States will have an increased volume of customers, the longer the Coronavirus pandemic extends.
• A prolonged slowdown in the automotive industry will result in a 15% year-over-year decrease in sales in the year 2020 in the United States.
• The COVID-19 virus was confirmed in Michigan, which caused shortages in the supply chain. Michigan represents around 17% of the United States' automotive output and represented 4.3% of the United States' manufacturing GDP in the year 2018, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.
• Automakers in the United States, including Fiat Chrysler, General Motors, and Tesla, have been struggling to obtain parts for manufacturing operations form Chinese Suppliers since the Coronavirus breakout.
• According to Dziczek, the United States automotive industry should expect more disruptions of United States sources, from demand crisis to supply crisis.
• The supply chain disruption in the automotive industry and productivity downturn is already affecting supply, new-car demand, and vehicle registrations in the United States. According to Nagle, if the United States shuts down automotive sales for a month, 1.5 million units will be lost.
• Due to the expected increase in automotive servicing needs, vehicle servicing companies are considering lengthening their hours of operation. 

How Companies are Addressing the Impact

• According to Automotive News, Volkswagen closed down its United States plant on the 16TH March 2020 to allow for cleaning of the plant as a measure to prevent the spread of COVID-19 virus. The company will pay its employees for the time off.
• Volkswagen, United States, has been the first automotive assembly plant to shut down as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic. The shut down is more of a precautionary move to prevent the spread of the virus. Other OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) are expected to shut down as well, which will cause further disruption in the automotive supply chain and production. 
• Due to the Coronavirus outbreak, the Volkswagen Company is experiencing logistics and production problems, according to Reuters. Around 7,000 employees in the company might be laid off, and the stoppage could go on for six weeks. 
• Some automotive manufacturing companies intend to combat the effects of COVID-19 to their businesses by providing their office employees with the necessary tools to work from home, implementing travel bans, and increasing the availability and supply of sanitation materials to ensure continuity of business.
• In the United States, some automotive companies like Ford and General Motors have enacted new visitor protocols in a bid to reduce the exposure of employees to the COVID-19 virus.
• To attract consumers, vehicle companies in the United States are now providing lucrative offers on their vehicles. For example, Ford Company and General Motors are offering new vehicle financing programs to increase sales in the middle of the COVID-19 outbreak. For new vehicle purchase, Ford announced that the customers have the option to delay the first payment for up to 3 months while General Motors is offering 0% financing for seven years.
• The United Auto Workers (UAW), Fiat Chrysler (FCA), and Ford Motor Company in the United States have come up with a "COVID-A9/Coronavirus task force" to implement strategies to protect its warehouse employees and automotive manufacturing from the adverse effects of COVID-19 in the three companies.

Research Strategy

Shortage of Drugs

• According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the COVID-19 outbreak is causing a drug shortage in the country.
• FDA states that one manufacturer has indicated a shortage of a human drug that has a connection to an area affected by the virus.
• The shortage is caused by the disruption of the manufacturing of an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) that is critical in the making of the drug.
• The U.S. pharmaceutical industry depends on India for 18 percent of its API amount to develop the drugs.
• To address the challenge, pharmaceutical companies like AbbVie are engaged in active research to develop other drugs to be used as experimental treatment options.  
• Also, U.S-based pharmaceutical companies like Johnson & Johnson, Novavax, and NanoViricides are using this opportunity to work towards developing potential therapies for COVID-19.  

Disruption of the U.S. Drug Supply Chain

• COVID-19 is disrupting the U.S. pharmaceutical industry, particularly, the drug supply chain.
• The outbreak is disrupting the production and distribution of pharmaceutical products.
• The U.S. drug supply chain is likely to be more impacted by insufficient information on COVID-19.  
• As the outbreak deepens, the U.S. is finding it difficult to track the flow as well as the availability of drug raw materials.
• As FDA is withdrawing its workers from foreign manufacturer inspections, knowledge on COVID-19’s impact on U.S. drug supplies is decreasing.
• To address this disruption, pharmaceutical companies are working with the U.S. government to plan for drug supply chain challenges.
• U.S. pharmaceutical companies are collaborating with the government to develop vaccines through research. New vaccines will be used in the health system to curb the effects of the disruption in the drug supply chain.
• To buffer immediate impacts from disruption of drug supply chains, major U.S. pharmaceutical companies are striving to hold long-term supplies of drug manufacturing products on hand.
• Companies like Xeris, Exparel, and Jazz Pharmaceuticals addressing the challenge of insufficient information on COVID-19 by using prescription tracking services. Such information is crucial in knowing the actual status of the drug supply chain in the country.

Disruption of Pharmaceutical Event Attendance and Conferences

• COVID-19 is causing a drop in attendance in pharmaceutical events and conferences in the U.S.
• Pharmaceutical companies in the U.S. are restricting travel as a way of reducing transmission of the virus.
• The drop in attendance is because of the cancellation or postponement of pharmaceutical events and conferences.
• To address this challenge, companies like Biogen are ordering their employees to work from home.
• Additionally, US pharmaceutical companies are addressing this challenge by switching to all-digital format techniques to conduct pharmaceutical events and conferences.

Research Strategy

Home Insurance

• As people move their businesses into their homes, insurers may see an increase in home business coverage endorsements.

• Agents may temporarily rely more on photos and videos for claims processing, rather than in-person inspections.
• People with short-term rental properties, such as Airbnb, may be considering pausing their rental property insurance during the outbreak, due to travel decreases.
• Given the need for employees to work remotely, companies will see a rise in claims made over the phone or via apps.

Auto Insurance

• There is no anticipated impact to the cost of auto insurance due to COVID-19.
• Agents need to adjust to working remotely and helping customers file claims remotely, and customers should expect longer hold times when calling insurance providers.
• Similar to other companies adapting to remote operations, State Farm is providing a large amount of COVID-19 related information on their website, including their efforts to protect their employees and customers, listing remote access tools for customers, outlining employee protection policies, and a letter from the CEO addressing the situation. State Farm is telling customers to file claims online, through their website, mobile app, or via phone.

Health Insurance

• Health insurance companies are being impacted due to new regulations by federal and local governments as the situation changes rapidly.
• The Families First Coronavirus Response Act, a new law by Congress, requires most private health insurers to cover COVID-19 tests during this emergency with no cost sharing and no prior authorization. The law also includes testing associated visits to physicians offices, urgent care centers, and emergency rooms.
• Some states are requiring insurance companies to cover COVID-19 tests.
• Many private health insurers are voluntarily including COVID-19 tests in their coverage.
•  United Healthcare is expanding its services to include free COVID-19 tests at approved locations, waiving copays, coinsurance, and deductibles for testing-associated visits through June 18, offering early prescription refills, free telehealth services, and a number of reference sources on their website.
• The COVID-19 crisis is creating challenges for healthcare revenue, billing procedures, and raising questions around patient financial responsibility, all of which are changing rapidly and causing strain on the healthcare and health insurance systems.
• Companies such as Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan are closing walk-in centers, and requiring employees to work remotely at least partially in an effort to protect employees.

Business Insurance

• While businesses are looking to their business insurance for help during COVID-19, most insurance policies are protected against virus-related claims, as well as events outside of their control, so that the COVID-19 situation is often not applicable.

• Business insurance policies generally do not cover loss due to viruses, and therefore should expect minimal impact. Many exclusions exist in business policies, a common one being exclusions from mold, bacteria, and viruses.
• Specialized policies in the hospitality industry may have coverage options due to viruses such as COVID-19, although applicable claims are mostly related to "extra expenses associated with evacuation, disinfection and testing after a building has been closed due to the introduction of a virus, and may not extend to any loss of income."
• In order to file a commercial property insurance claim, most businesses would have to prove a direct physical loss, such as a person infected with COVIC-19 inside the business. Given the extreme measures ordered by federal and state governments and companies forcing employees to work remotely, this will likely mitigate the risk of these policies coming into effect on any large scale.
• Like the majority of the industry, companies are working to serve customers via phone, website, chat, app, and email, including Liberty Mutual, which is now working 100% remotely.

Life Insurance

• For policies in place prior to COVID-19, policies would cover death from COVID-19.
• Some companies are creating provisions to limit their liability for COVID-19 in new policy applications. These provisions include: travel to China within the past 30 days, future plans to travel to China, recent trips to the Wuhan Province, or past and future travel to high risk areas such as Hong Kong, Italy, Iran, Japan, Mongolia, South Korea, Taiwan, and Vietnam.
• In an effort to be transparent and comforting during this unsettling time, Haven Life Insurance is trying to reassure policyholders by publicly and plainly addressing questions about COVID-19 and their life insurance policies. Haven Life is stating that existing policies will cover COVID-19, provided that applicants were honest in their health and travel plans during the application process.