A woman in Austria has been found guilty of fatally infecting her neighbor with COVID-19 in 2021, her second pandemic-related conviction in a year, according to local media.

A woman in Austria was found guilty of fatally infecting her neighbor with COVID-19 in 2021, her second pandemic-related conviction in a year, according to local media. A judge sentenced the 54-year-old on Thursday to four months’ suspended imprisonment and an 800-euro fine ($886.75) for grossly negligent homicide.

The victim, who was also a cancer patient, died of pneumonia that was caused by the coronavirus, according to Austrian news agency APA. A virological report showed that the virus DNA matched both the deceased and the 54-year-old woman, proving that the defendant “almost 100 percent” transmitted it, an expert told the court.

“I feel sorry for you personally – I think that something like this has probably happened hundreds of times,” the judge said Thursday. “But you are unlucky that an expert has determined with almost absolute certainty that it was an infection that came from you.”

  • anubis119@lemmy.worldEnglish
    33·
    2 months ago

    I understand the reasoning, I’m just not sure I like the precedence this establishes. The details are quite vague.

    The article says there was contact in a stairwell. What kind of contact? How long? Even if you got your groceries delivered, how would you get them if you aren’t allowed in a common area? No details at all.

    This feels dystopian to me because the judgement seems to imply that if you are unlucky enough to have a better immune system than your deceased neighbor who was sick with the same strain of virus, that you’re fully liable for their death. IDK