Yet another shockingly heartbreaking story of a Maltese COVID-19 patient who recovered but is still being completely segregated by her community has emerged, this time from a small village in Gozo.

“This old lady tested positive four weeks ago, but she recovered and tested negative,” a source told Lovin Malta earlier today. “Now, though, she’s been totally abandoned and is experiencing this horrible treatment from her neighbours and everyone else.”

“No one speaks to her, and as soon as she leaves her house, she sees everyone running away from her as if she has the plague,” the saddening account continues.

“This is the Christian Malta so many people are proud of.”

“Or should I say, this is the Malta that so many people have said is the progressive country that entered Europe,” the equally angry and disappointed source told this newsroom. “Malta might’ve entered Europe, but Gozo definitely didn’t.”

The elderly woman’s children all tested negative… but that hasn’t stopped the community from also stigmatising them.

“This woman is crying every single day, her trauma now is bigger and worse than when she was actually sick,” the man said. “Her children never even visited her during the lockdown, and yet even they’re being treated this way. I’m calling her every single day to try and calm her down.”

“This is what our priests and bishops should be speaking out about, because all these people who are treating this woman like this would be the ones you’d see at the very front pews in church or at every feast procession.”

“We’ve been hearing about a lot of great deeds that have been blasted all over social media, and that’s great,” the man said. “But then, these poor people are silently suffering in their own homes, and it’s like we’re not allowed to talk about them.”

“This is why there’s a lot of people who aren’t going to be tested, or are sick and they don’t want to mention it to anyone for fear of being labelled and completely cast aside,” he finished, echoing a similar warning made by another stigimatised COVID-19 patient who had recovered.

“This is what true solidarity means, and not what we hear on the news or in flashy ads or on Tik Tok or whatever,” the man finished. “Solidarity is shown in silence, by encouraging someone who’s just been through a traumatic experience, and helping them in their everyday needs.”

Stock Featured Photo: Fumigation works at Nadur earlier this month

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