Participants will be responsible for all costs associated with medical attention and/or extended stay to quarantine due to COVID-19. This includes all participants, regardless of travel award status. Travel insurance is inexpensive (~$30), and participants are strongly encouraged to avoid the potential of incurring costs which ISEE will not reimburse. This page includes information on travel insurance.
All participants receiving travel awards will be required to be covered by travel insurance. ISEE will reimburse participants for travel insurance if it is reasonably price and reimbursement is requested.
Travel insurance that not only covers medical treatment, but has “trip delay” coverage for accommodations in the event of extending the stay due to illness or quarantine due to COVID-19 is strongly encouraged. Travel insurance could also cover the cost of your flight, should you get sick just before departing home, and have to cancel your travel. Be sure to confirm that COVID-19 will be covered and is no longer considered an unforeseen event.
It is always good practice to take advantage of institutional travel insurance, often offered for free for their employees. For example, University of California (UC) employees can register their trip and be covered for free. However, institutional insurance may not cover COVID-19, as it is no longer an unforeseen event (we have confirmed that UC travel insurance does NOT cover COVID-19).
We researched several providers, and found Trawick Safe Travels Explorer plan to be a good value, but there are many available, and some credit cards include travel insurance when you use them to purchase your ticket. However it’s important it has ‘trip delay’ coverage, for the additional expenses if you need to quarantine/convalesce adding days to the trip.
Again, we are asking all particiants to purchase travel insurance. ISEE is not able to reimburse participants for costs associated with exposure to COVID-19.
Example quote from Trawick | Cost: $23.89 |
Destination | United States (not US minor outlying islands) |
Departure date | 5/17/2022 |
Return date | 5/21/2022 |
Trip deposit date | Whatever date you purchased the airfare |
Number of travelers | 1 |
Traveler age | 40 |
Trip Cost (if lodging covered by ISEE, cost is only the price of the airfare) | $700 |
Primary residence state | CA |
This plan includes: | See Insurance Certificate for coverage details (this is the CA certificate) |
Trip Cancellation (Only valid for certain severe reasons. Does not apply if the conference is canceled. See page 11 of certificate linked above) | 100% of the Insured Trip Cost up to $100,000 |
Trip Interruption (Would cover additional airfare costs if trip is extended in the event of illness. See page 12 of certificate linked above) | 100% of the Insured Trip Cost |
Missed Connection | $500 (3 to 6 Hours) |
Trip Delay (Important coverage if trip is extended due to illess) | $2000 ($150 per day for delays of 12 hours or more) |
Covid Information and Protocols page |