If the new coronavirus interferes with your already-planned trip, don't count on your travel insurance to provide much help. Unless you have "cancel for any reason" coverage, you might be out of luck. While some insurers have loosened their restrictions, fear of contracting the new coronavirus, or COVID-19, is not covered under a standard policy, experts say. And because the spread of the pathogen is now considered a known factor for travel — i.e., it's a declared pandemic — it is likely to be excluded from coverage. "It's going to differ depending on the policy, which people are finding out," said Jill Gonzalez, an analyst with personal finance website WalletHub. "It depends on the fine print."

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Typically, a standard policy with "cancellation and interruption" coverage includes illness by you or a family member before or during the trip. Right now, though, many insurers will only cover the coronavirus if the policy was purchased before Jan. 21, according to the US Travel Insurance Association. "There's a clause in many policies that says you won't get trip cancellation coverage for an illness once it's declared an epidemic or pandemic," said Mark Friedlander, spokesman for the Insurance Information Institute. However, if you cannot go on your trip because you're quarantined — and can provide documentation of it — you might have coverage, depending on the policy, Gonzalez said. More from Personal Finance:

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Why a Roth IRA conversion may make sense in down market Generally speaking, the best way to protect your trip through travel insurance is to purchase "cancel for any reason" coverage if it's available in your state and if it hasn't been too long since you made your reservations. "You have to get that within 14 to 21 days of booking the trip, so unless you booked fairly recently, this probably won't be an option," Gonzalez said. Friedlander said that in January, sales of that coverage jumped more than 100% from a year ago. "That was before we knew how impactful [COVID-19] would be in the U.S.," he said. "People were buying it because they saw what was happening globally."

If the benefit is available, be aware that it comes with restrictions and rules, adds to the cost of your policy — and typically won't fully reimburse you. The price for a standard policy is usually 7% to 10% of the cost of the trip, Gonzalez said. Adding cancel-for-any-reason coverage adds about 40% to that. So if standard option for a $5,000 trip costs $500 (10%), the extra coverage would add $200 to that (40% of $500). However, Gonzalez said she wouldn't be surprised if the price rises. "A lot of these insurance companies say their rates can change without notice for any reason," she said. "I can see those prices fluctuating because of what's going on."