Financial compensation for Covid-19 victims

There should be compensations to families who experience a fatality from Covid-19. This is meant to reduce their financial and psychological difficulties especially if the bread winner/s of that family succumbs to the disease.

We have witnessed recent episodes when family homes collapsed during adjacent construction works where, despite obvious liability, these families have remained without compensation.

In this article, a highly speculative and pessimistic local scenario is considered. It is a reasoned worst-case situation, considering patterns of other outbreaks around the world. These high estimates are meant to show that the compensation bill is manageable. If warm weather in Malta persists, it may help limit spread as it would the common flu. It is not known if these conditions can influence the spread of Covid-19.

Suggested protocol: 1) Compensation is due to family units with victims involving one or both of a married couple or legally registered social partners with dependent offspring or elders, or couples in virtue of shared dependent minor/s if both are registered as the biological parents or legally adoptive parent/s. 2) Complete or partial compensation to partner of victim amounting to the latter’s declared income, irrespective of whether the partner has a separate income. Ceilings are however to follow recommendations set below. If both members of a partnership succumb and do not have a dependent minor or elder, than no compensation is due 3) Annual compensation should be 100% of victim’s income up to a combined ceiling of 4

€25,000. Between €25,000 and €31,250, compensation remains up to a ceiling of €25,000 to lower rate to 80%. This 80% rate of compensated income is thereafter calculated up to €80,000, the latter receiving the maximum compensation of €64,000.

If both partners had an income, the survivor gets 60% of victim’s income. When a combined income was below €25,000, compensation given should bring the compensated income to equal the former combined income. 60% compensation or less is given so that compensated income does not exceed €64,000. If surviving partner has an income of over €64,000, no compensation is due.

5) If the deceased partner had no income and the couple had no dependents, the surviving partner should get an extra 30% of the survivor’s declared income, again, not exceeding a compensated amount of €25,000.

6 Separate assessment for further compensation, even going beyond the standard ceiling of €64,000, to reimburse school fees of dependents. These compensations should not exceed original declared incomes.

7) Partial or complete remuneration of mortgage payments due, even over and above the standard ceiling of €64,000, in order to avoid foreclosures from forfeiture of mortgage obligations. These compensations should not exceed original declared incomes.

8) These annual compensations are given in monthly instalments, like a salary, up to a working age of 63 with an increase of 5% every 10 years.

What would be a plausible bill for a bad Covid-19 epidemic in Malta

Worst-case! 11,000 from the work force (210,000 Maltese and EU citizens) infected, a 2% fatality rate leading to 220 deaths. After several considerations the initial first year bill could