Brandon Fick, chief underwriting officer of Zurich North America, has addressed how the insurance industry can respond to pandemics. COVID-19 is a disaster that insurance was not designed to address. It and other past and future pandemics are too unpredictable, disruptive and widespread for private insurance. Most policies exclude virus for this reason.
A workable, cost-effective solution requires a public-private approach. Some have proposed federal reinsurance modeled on TRIA. Zurich's concept is based on the federal crop insurance program. This program allows private insurers to choose how much risk they want to insure; the government covers the rest. The purpose is to provide stability and predictability to businesses and employees to protect them financially from the consequences of a shutdown.
Details of Zurich's concept are on their website ("Zurich's draft concept for facilitating pandemic protection" at zurichna.com).