Aspen restaurateur Rob Mobilian, like all others, never expected to be told to shutter his business in the face of a pandemic.

After 32 years, Mobilian on Monday closed the doors to his Piñons restaurant, laid off his staff of 45 and filed an insurance claim for the interruption of his business.

His claim was denied.

“I’m 32 years without a claim, ever,” Mobilian said. “Now they tell me the $420,000 that I’ve paid in premiums all these years, that I don’t have the coverage because it’s a virus and the policy specifically excludes virus.”

The coverage is designed to cover loss of revenue that would have been earned had there been no interruption in business had it not been for the event, such as a fire, that caused the stoppage.

Gov. Jared Polis ordered all on-site dining restaurants and bars to close until April 30, allowing only take-out ordering or delivery. Some, like Mobilian, were forced to close. The governor’s order reflected similar edicts issued by governors in several other states. Denver Mayor Michael Hancock went one better, telling restaurants in the city to close to on-site eating for eight weeks.

For no fault of his own, and stuck with a $30,000-per-month lease payment whether he’s open or not, Mobilian and scores of others like him are staring at the unthinkable: closing his business permanently if the pandemic that shut him down doesn’t end soon, especially if he has no insurance coverage to stem the damage.

“We don’t know if it’s a month, four months, or longer,” he said. “It’s just terrible. There are a lot of restaurants in this valley and we all closed when the government told us to close. But we’ll probably lose half of them because of this.”

The Colorado Division of Insurance has had one complaint filed about business interruption insurance in the past week, spokesman Vince Plymell said.

“This particular insurance coverage is being discussed in all states right now, as well as at the federal level,” he said. “While health insurance issues have been the first things to be considered due to the impact of COVID-19, the Colorado Division is also looking at a variety of issues related to property and casualty insurance and what those issues mean for consumers, as well as the insurance industry.”

Like other small-business owners, Mobilian learned that his insurance policy protecting Pinon against any interruption of service — a supply line shut-down, a fire, or even a government order to close — doesn’t cover damages that result from bacterial or virus contamination.

“It’s very problematic for a lot of business owners, as some are finding that specific exclusion against pandemic or virus, and it’s difficult to get around the losses they’ll experience,” said attorney Finley Harckham, a national expert on business interruption insurance. “Government now is putting public health above business health, and that’s right, but they’re destroying businesses.”

In essence, the business would require direct physical damage, such as widespread contamination of the facility to be covered. And even if covered, some businesses only are covered for a few days of lost income, not the weeks or months a pandemic can last.

Like Mobilian, business owner and master sommelier Bobby Stuckey was denied a claim for business interruption because the locations of his restaurants — Frasca Food and Wine, Pizzeria Locale, Sunday Vinyl and Tavernetta — weren’t actually contaminated with the novel coronavirus that causes the disease COVID-19.

“When New York shut down before us, we heard from restaurant people there who were having problems, so we filed our claims based on civic closure,” Stuckey said. “The next day we’re told the buildings are fine, that we’re not closed because of COVID-19 to the building, and they don’t think it’s a viable claim, that we’re not covered.”

Mobilian said he did not know his own business policy excluded losses from virus spread, but should have learned from a New Year’s Eve incident several years ago that forced the restaurant to close.

“There was a guy who wanted to blow something up and everyone was shut down in the face of that, and it turned out to be like a firecracker or something,” he said. “But because it was called a bomb and everyone closed, it was considered a terrorist act and no one was paid for their losses that night. That was because of 9/11 and since then, terrorist acts are not covered.”

True, said Harckman, and precisely why virus and bacterial spread are not covered today.

“After the SARS scare around 2003, the industry excluded those types of events,” he said. “When the industry is slammed with a particular unforeseen risk, they’ll exclude it from future coverages. That’s why it’s important to review those coverages, to see what is or is not covered.”

The insurance industry says it’s up to business owners to double-check their coverages.

“We realize businesses are struggling through the restaurant shut-down during this extraordinary situation. Business interruption coverage is generally tied to a specific cause of loss for physical damage that results in businesses’ inability to do business, and property policies typically exclude closure due to a virus or bacteria,” said Carole Walker, executive director of the Rocky Mountain Insurance Association. “In other disasters where there isn’t private insurance coverage, the federal government has stepped in to bring emergency assistance — and those steps are currently being considered and implemented by Congress at an unprecedented pace to bring swift assistance to business owners.”

Despite the ability to access federal loans for small businesses or to acquire other types of government financial assistance, Mobilian suggests the insurance industry take one on the chin.

“Insurance companies are so wealthy, they need to step up a little bit,” he said. “They need to offer something, to chip in as well. Everybody needs to take their loss and help out. We all want to reopen and everyone needs a job when it’s all back.”