NJM Insurance said it discarded its March 31 cutoff for COVID-19 vehicle cleaning charges and instead would reimburse the operation “for the near future.”
The insurer as late as Friday was declaring it would not purchase the work effective April 1.
“Effective 4/1/2021, NJM won't be accepting the charges for COVID-19 clean-up/sanitizing,” NJM general claims division administrator Joseph Pindar wrote inside a Friday email, a copy of which was presented to Repairer Driven News.
We reached to NJM Insurance Monday morning and early Monday evening for discuss the rationale for the cutoff.
Early Tuesday evening, the insurer responded and said hello would still pay such charges.
“NJM has always paid a charge to have vehicles cleaned upon the completion of repairs,” NJM said inside a statement Tuesday. “In the last 12 months, NJM continues to be paying one more cleaning fee associated with COVID-19. After further consideration, NJM will quickly continue make payment on additional COVID-19 vehicle cleaning fee for the near future.”
NJM’s comments follow confirmation by USAA — the nation’s fifth-largest auto insurer — it would extend reimbursement for COVID-19 cleaning through June 30.
USAA had like NJM made plans simply to cover those costs through Wednesday, March 31.
The White House has declared an objective of “getting the nation nearer to normal by July 4th” and intends to have sufficient vaccine for each American adult by the end of spring.
Democratic President Joe Biden on Thursday announced an objective of 200 million vaccine shots in the first 100 days at work.
“With 200 million shots within the first 100 days, over fifty percent of all adult Americans may have gotten at least one shot by April 29th,” White House COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients said Friday, according to a White House transcript. The COVID-19 vaccines often need a two-shot regimen.
Zients said that “by no more May we'll have sufficient vaccine for each adult in the U.S.,” based on the transcript.
The main COVID-19 threat is “respiratory droplets generated when individuals cough, sneeze, sing, talk, or breathe,” based on the CDC, which is constantly on the advise everyone to put on a mask in their workplace.
“Spread from touching surfaces is not thought to be a typical method in which COVID-19 spreads,” according to the CDC.
Nevertheless, the agency still advises workplaces to routinely sanitize surfaces to avoid the chance of COVID-19. It also has issued a separate group of cleaning and disinfecting guidelines when someone has been sick. This includes using items in the Epa “List N” of approved COVID-19 disinfecting products.
“Respiratory droplets may also find surfaces and objects,” the CDC writes. “It is possible that a person could get COVID-19 by touching a surface or object that has the virus onto it and then touching their own mouth, nose, or eyes.”
NJM does business in Nj, Connecticut, Ohio and Pennsylvania. It had been New Jersey’s No. 2 private passenger auto insurance carrier in 2021 with a 13.2 market share, according to the Insurance Information Institute.
