The experience of the COVID-19 pandemic can be useful to explore several dimensions of the excuse of necessity in customary international law. This article focuses on one requirement: lack of substantial State contribution. Specifically, the piece assesses four phenomena relevant to the purpose of this requisite: scientific uncertainty, major disagreement among different levels of governments, lack of economic resources, private behavior under the control of States, and positive actions allowing other States to mitigate the impact of the pandemic.