A woman in Austria is facing her second COVID-related conviction after she fatally infected her neighbor with the virus back in 2021.
The 54-year-old, whose name has not been released, was charged with grossly negligent homicide after her neighbor—a cancer patient—died of pneumonia caused by COVID-19.
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The AP reported that an expert testified that a virological report “almost 100 percent” confirmed that the defendant transmitted it, as the virus DNA matched both individuals. Now, she has been sentenced to four months’ suspended imprisonment as well as an 800-euro fine. Per Austrian law, the verdict is not yet final.
“I feel sorry for you personally—I think that something like this has probably happened hundreds of times,” the judge said. “But you are unlucky that an expert has determined with almost absolute certainty that it was an infection that came from you.”
This isn’t the first time the accused woman—whose identity remains anonymous—has been convicted in such a case. Last summer, she was sentenced to three months suspended imprisonment for intentionally endangering the public when infected with the coronavirus.
At the time, she denied any sort of interactions while sick and claimed she was too ill to leave her bed. She also alleged that she’d assumed she only had bronchitis and did not know she was fighting the coronavirus.
However, her doctor disproved this claim. He said she had not only tested positive for COVID but told him she “certainly won’t let herself be locked up.”
Can you really go to jail for infecting someone with COVID-19? Technically…yes, but it’s not that simple.
Back when the pandemic first started, a US official said coughing on someone could be considered terrorism, but nobody appears to have ever been imprisoned for it.
That’s probably for the best: legal experts have cautioned against harsh criminal penalties for COVID-19 transmission because it could deter testing and medical care.
Bottom line? Stay home if you’re sick. And if you are, don’t be an asshole about it.
