After a long three months without any victims, four deaths from Coronavirus have been registered in Malta in the past week or so.

They were all elderly citizens, and so the youngest fatality of this dreaded disease in Malta remains a 53-year-old man who died in the first phase of the pandemic. Apart from another man in his 50s, all other victims of Covid-19 in Malta were 68 years or older.

It’s easy to dismiss the seriousness of the virus by stating that it mostly affects people of the older generations. But it is wrong to do that. Just as much as it is wrong to pin any deaths on other underlying medical conditions.

Almost each time that Malta recorded a death – we have now had 13 – the health ministry issues a statement in which it is said that the person who passed away had other health issues.

Although the intention behind that single sentence is one to reassure the public that there is no cause for alarm, the other side of the coin of this statement is that the ministry is indirectly belittling the situation. It’s as if it’s saying it’s ok to get the virus and you have nothing to worry about unless you have other health issues.

This kind of thought is what has pushed many people, especially the younger and healthier sections of the population, to ignore guidelines issued by the health authorities with regard to wearing masks and sticking to social distancing.

Unfortunately, their negligence did end up causing distress to others – and we say this without any particular reference to Malta, as this situation has been experienced in all other parts of the world – because they ended up passing the virus on to more vulnerable people who suffered more, and some of them died too.

Time and again the health authorities have made it clear, when they are speaking in general, that Covid-19 gets to be more serious in people who are older and have medical conditions. So there is really no need to say it every time a death occurs that the person who died had other health issues. It is, really and truly, no consolation to the family and friends who lost a loved one and, at the same time, it encourages a laissez-faire attitude. The age factor – because, let’s face it, the first thing people seek when they hear about a death is the age of the victim – as well as the “medical condition” statement are the type of information that leads people to adopt an attitude of indifference.

This is because the only question that needs to be asked each time there is a fatality is this: had he or she not contracted Covid-19, would that person have died of other medical conditions now? In all probability, in spite of having other medical conditions, that person would have lived longer had he or she not contracted the Coronavirus. So, in actual fact, it was Coronavirus who killed him or her, not the other medical conditions.

Covid-19 may have little effect on most of the patients it hits, and many are those who do not even experience any symptoms, but it could be a killer to others.