In the midst of a worldwide health crisis and as the 2019 Novel Coronavirus, i.e. COVID-19, cases keep increasing, it is easy to fall victim to panic, fear, and misinformation. At BRZ, the health and safety of our community is our foremost concern. In light of the state of emergency declared in Massachusetts by Governor Baker, we have gathered some information below to help guide you through these troubling times.
COVID-19 is a respiratory disease caused by a coronavirus seen in humans for the first time. It was first identified in Wuhan, China but cases have now been confirmed in dozens of countries all over the world. As of March 10th, there are 92 confirmed and presumptive cases in Massachusetts. The general term coronavirus refers to a big family of viruses which are responsible for a wide spectrum of illnesses ranging from the common cold to more severe ones such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV).
According to Dr. Nancy Messonnier, MD, the Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the CDC, COVID-19 is capable of spreading easily and sustainably from person-to-person and there is no inherent immunity in the population because it is new. Given the trajectory of the disease, there is a fair chance that a large part of the population will be exposed to the virus and may become sick but most people are not expected to develop serious illness. The virus appears to mostly affect adults, and most seriously older adults. There is an increased risk of death starting at 60 or if there are underlying health conditions. This risk increases with age with the highest risk for illness and death being in people over 80 years old.
Frequently wash your hands with soap. Hand washing should last for at least 20 seconds in order to be properly effective.
Cover your cough and/or sneeze. Cough and sneeze into your elbow instead of the palm of your hands to minimize the spread of germs to objects and surfaces you may touch after coughing or sneezing.
Regularly clean and disinfect objects and surfaces that you frequently come into contact with. That includes your phone since it is likely to pick up germs from multiple places throughout the day. Use alcohol-based gels and rubs or disinfecting wipes.
Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth.
For the time being, avoid gatherings with large crowds when possible.
If you start feeling sick and have flu-like symptoms such as a fever, cough, or shortness of breath, try to stay home. A fever is a temperature of 100.4°F/38°C or higher. If you think you may need medical attention, call ahead before you go to a doctor’s office or an emergency room. Massachusetts insurers will cover the cost of testing and treatment for the new coronavirus following the directive of Insurance Commissioner Gary Anderson.
The virus can spread asymptomatically which means that you may be a carrier and not be aware of it. While large numbers of people may be exposed to the virus and emerge unscathed or with moderate symptoms, all health safety precautions should be followed in order to protect the more vulnerable members of our community such as the elderly.
Avoid wearing a face mask unless you are sick. Face masks actually gather germs, particularly when they are worn improperly, and can make you sick. Additionally, hoarding masks means you may contribute to a shortage that can affect healthcare workers who need them to perform their duties. Only wear a mask if you are already sick in order to try and prevent the spread of germs to others.
As you may have heard, there is a number of people who have been directed to self-quarantine. That means they stay at home and do not go to work or school for 14 days while they monitor the condition of their health. The CDC recommends checking body temperature twice a day and being vigilant of flu-like symptoms.
Others, have been advised to limit interactions (e.g. due to travel to countries like Japan). According to the CDC that means avoiding public transportation (the T, taxis, and ride-shares), avoiding crowded places (such as schools, malls, movie theaters, and churches), and keeping a distance from others (6 feet or 2 meters).
If you have recently traveled abroad, refer to the CDC’s Updated Guidelines for travelers returning to the US. The CDC currently recommends avoiding all non-essential travel to China and Italy due to widespread, sustained, and ongoing transmission.
If you are a business owner, take a look at the CDC’s Interim Guidance for Businesses and Employers in order to ensure you are prepared to handle any occurrences. The CDC suggests that employers actively encourage sick employees to stay home, to be flexible with sick leave policies, to make sure those policies follow public health guidance, and that employees are aware of those policies. It is also advisable to encourage proper respiratory etiquette and hand hygiene and to routinely clean shared spaces and surfaces like workstations, countertops, and doorknobs. From an insurance standpoint, according to Thomas Bick of Butzel Long “a business that suffers direct or indirect business interruption losses due to the spread of the coronavirus should check its commercial property policy to determine if it has business interruption or contingent business interruption coverage. If so, it may be insured against the resulting loss of income, at least over the “restoration period” specified in the policy.”
Acting rationally during an infectious disease public health crisis and trusting the advice of experts is the surest way to effectively contain it. When we work together as a community, we can help protect the most vulnerable among us, support those who become affected, and be a part of minimizing the virus’ impact.
We are an insurance company made by people for people. A community that speaks tyour language, with people who care about your future! Here you can find all the protection and care that a home offers. Come and join us!
This mode enables people with epilepsy to use the website safely by eliminating the risk of seizures that result from flashing or blinking animations and risky color combinations.
Visually Impaired Mode
Improves website's visuals
This mode adjusts the website for the convenience of users with visual impairments such as Degrading Eyesight, Tunnel Vision, Cataract, Glaucoma, and others.
Cognitive Disability Mode
Helps to focus on specific content
This mode provides different assistive options to help users with cognitive impairments such as Dyslexia, Autism, CVA, and others, to focus on the essential elements of the website more easily.
ADHD Friendly Mode
Reduces distractions and improve focus
This mode helps users with ADHD and Neurodevelopmental disorders to read, browse, and focus on the main website elements more easily while significantly reducing distractions.
Blindness Mode
Allows using the site with your screen-reader
This mode configures the website to be compatible with screen-readers such as JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver, and TalkBack. A screen-reader is software for blind users that is installed on a computer and smartphone, and websites must be compatible with it.
Online Dictionary
Readable Experience
Content Scaling
Default
Text Magnifier
Readable Font
Dyslexia Friendly
Highlight Titles
Highlight Links
Font Sizing
Default
Line Height
Default
Letter Spacing
Default
Left Aligned
Center Aligned
Right Aligned
Visually Pleasing Experience
Dark Contrast
Light Contrast
Monochrome
High Contrast
High Saturation
Low Saturation
Adjust Text Colors
Adjust Title Colors
Adjust Background Colors
Easy Orientation
Mute Sounds
Hide Images
Virtual Keyboard
Reading Guide
Stop Animations
Reading Mask
Highlight Hover
Highlight Focus
Big Dark Cursor
Big Light Cursor
Navigation Keys
Accessibility Statement
brzinsurance.com
March 29, 2023
Compliance status
We firmly believe that the internet should be available and accessible to anyone, and are committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience,
regardless of circumstance and ability.
To fulfill this, we aim to adhere as strictly as possible to the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG 2.1) at the AA level.
These guidelines explain how to make web content accessible to people with a wide array of disabilities. Complying with those guidelines helps us ensure that the website is accessible
to all people: blind people, people with motor impairments, visual impairment, cognitive disabilities, and more.
This website utilizes various technologies that are meant to make it as accessible as possible at all times. We utilize an accessibility interface that allows persons with specific
disabilities to adjust the website’s UI (user interface) and design it to their personal needs.
Additionally, the website utilizes an AI-based application that runs in the background and optimizes its accessibility level constantly. This application remediates the website’s HTML,
adapts Its functionality and behavior for screen-readers used by the blind users, and for keyboard functions used by individuals with motor impairments.
If you’ve found a malfunction or have ideas for improvement, we’ll be happy to hear from you. You can reach out to the website’s operators by using the following email
Screen-reader and keyboard navigation
Our website implements the ARIA attributes (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) technique, alongside various different behavioral changes, to ensure blind users visiting with
screen-readers are able to read, comprehend, and enjoy the website’s functions. As soon as a user with a screen-reader enters your site, they immediately receive
a prompt to enter the Screen-Reader Profile so they can browse and operate your site effectively. Here’s how our website covers some of the most important screen-reader requirements,
alongside console screenshots of code examples:
Screen-reader optimization: we run a background process that learns the website’s components from top to bottom, to ensure ongoing compliance even when updating the website.
In this process, we provide screen-readers with meaningful data using the ARIA set of attributes. For example, we provide accurate form labels;
descriptions for actionable icons (social media icons, search icons, cart icons, etc.); validation guidance for form inputs; element roles such as buttons, menus, modal dialogues (popups),
and others. Additionally, the background process scans all of the website’s images and provides an accurate and meaningful image-object-recognition-based description as an ALT (alternate text) tag
for images that are not described. It will also extract texts that are embedded within the image, using an OCR (optical character recognition) technology.
To turn on screen-reader adjustments at any time, users need only to press the Alt+1 keyboard combination. Screen-reader users also get automatic announcements to turn the Screen-reader mode on
as soon as they enter the website.
These adjustments are compatible with all popular screen readers, including JAWS and NVDA.
Keyboard navigation optimization: The background process also adjusts the website’s HTML, and adds various behaviors using JavaScript code to make the website operable by the keyboard. This includes the ability to navigate the website using the Tab and Shift+Tab keys, operate dropdowns with the arrow keys, close them with Esc, trigger buttons and links using the Enter key, navigate between radio and checkbox elements using the arrow keys, and fill them in with the Spacebar or Enter key.Additionally, keyboard users will find quick-navigation and content-skip menus, available at any time by clicking Alt+1, or as the first elements of the site while navigating with the keyboard. The background process also handles triggered popups by moving the keyboard focus towards them as soon as they appear, and not allow the focus drift outside of it.
Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements.
Disability profiles supported in our website
Epilepsy Safe Mode: this profile enables people with epilepsy to use the website safely by eliminating the risk of seizures that result from flashing or blinking animations and risky color combinations.
Visually Impaired Mode: this mode adjusts the website for the convenience of users with visual impairments such as Degrading Eyesight, Tunnel Vision, Cataract, Glaucoma, and others.
Cognitive Disability Mode: this mode provides different assistive options to help users with cognitive impairments such as Dyslexia, Autism, CVA, and others, to focus on the essential elements of the website more easily.
ADHD Friendly Mode: this mode helps users with ADHD and Neurodevelopmental disorders to read, browse, and focus on the main website elements more easily while significantly reducing distractions.
Blindness Mode: this mode configures the website to be compatible with screen-readers such as JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver, and TalkBack. A screen-reader is software for blind users that is installed on a computer and smartphone, and websites must be compatible with it.
Keyboard Navigation Profile (Motor-Impaired): this profile enables motor-impaired persons to operate the website using the keyboard Tab, Shift+Tab, and the Enter keys. Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements.
Additional UI, design, and readability adjustments
Font adjustments – users, can increase and decrease its size, change its family (type), adjust the spacing, alignment, line height, and more.
Color adjustments – users can select various color contrast profiles such as light, dark, inverted, and monochrome. Additionally, users can swap color schemes of titles, texts, and backgrounds, with over 7 different coloring options.
Animations – epileptic users can stop all running animations with the click of a button. Animations controlled by the interface include videos, GIFs, and CSS flashing transitions.
Content highlighting – users can choose to emphasize important elements such as links and titles. They can also choose to highlight focused or hovered elements only.
Audio muting – users with hearing devices may experience headaches or other issues due to automatic audio playing. This option lets users mute the entire website instantly.
Cognitive disorders – we utilize a search engine that is linked to Wikipedia and Wiktionary, allowing people with cognitive disorders to decipher meanings of phrases, initials, slang, and others.
Additional functions – we provide users the option to change cursor color and size, use a printing mode, enable a virtual keyboard, and many other functions.
Browser and assistive technology compatibility
We aim to support the widest array of browsers and assistive technologies as possible, so our users can choose the best fitting tools for them, with as few limitations as possible. Therefore, we have worked very hard to be able to support all major systems that comprise over 95% of the user market share including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Opera and Microsoft Edge, JAWS and NVDA (screen readers), both for Windows and for MAC users.
Notes, comments, and feedback
Despite our very best efforts to allow anybody to adjust the website to their needs, there may still be pages or sections that are not fully accessible, are in the process of becoming accessible, or are lacking an adequate technological solution to make them accessible. Still, we are continually improving our accessibility, adding, updating and improving its options and features, and developing and adopting new technologies. All this is meant to reach the optimal level of accessibility, following technological advancements. For any assistance, please reach out to