Since Malta’s first case emerged in early March, nine people have died from COVID-19. The first victim was Ġorġa Zammit, 92, in Gozo, and here, her daughter speaks out for the first time about the trauma. By Claudia Calleja
Even the hearse driver at first refused to transport her body from the morgue to the cemetery.
Gozitan sisters Josette Zammit and Marthese Caruana would have never imagined it – not only that their mother would become the first person in Malta to die from coronavirus but that they would have to face such stigma.
Ġorġa Zammit passed away at the Gozo General Hospital on April 8. It was a time when people’s fears were peaking.
The health authorities’ statement announcing the death was a particularly difficult moment for the family.
“Initially, we really felt the stigma. She was the first person to die because of COVID-19 and we did not want people linking it to our family. But as time passed, the stigma faded away,” says Josette.
Ġorġa had been at the hospital since April 2019. Her daughters had moved her there to ensure she had full-time care because of her dementia, rheumatoid arthritis and other conditions.
It had been a hard decision for Josette, who lived with her and cared for her, but she knew it was for the best.
“Her health really started to deteriorate after her sister died in September 2018. They were very close… The dementia got worse. She was very confused, but she recognised us and kept up her passion for reading.
“She remembered things from the past and would tell us to ensure that our father Joseph, who passed away 12 years ago, did not eat too much bread. We miss her,” Josette says.
After the move to hospital, the sisters visited every day – until March 11 when measures came in to protect vulnerable people from contracting coronavirus. From that day on, they phoned her every day and had the occasional video call with the help of hospital staff.
It was a Monday morning when Josette called her as usual and realised something was not right. “She stopped replying to me. I thought that maybe, because of her dementia, she just forgot I was there.”
Later that day, her sister was told their mother had little time left. They prepared to give her the Last Rites and rushed to hospital.
There, they were told Ġorġa would be tested for COVID-19. It came as a shock.
“They said she was dying and her kidneys were failing. We could not even go near her. We had to stand behind the window of her room. She saw us and looked excited to see us,” Josette recalls.
COVID-19 was confirmed the following morning. The sisters wanted the hospital to carry out another test but it never happened. The next thing they knew, on Wednesday the hospital called them to say she had passed away.
Preparing for the burial, the hearse driver initially refused to carry the body from the morgue to the cemetery. He changed his mind only after being persuaded by medics that he ran no risk of contracting the virus.
The part that hurt the sisters most was when the hospital released a statement saying no staff had tested positive for the virus.
“We had not visited her in three weeks so we could not have given her the virus. It must have come from hospital. We are sure that whoever did pass it on to her did not mean to since they took such good care of her. But that statement was unnecessary,” Josette says.
“It was not the type of burial we would have wanted for our mother. She was buried in her hospital gown.
“The coffin had to be fumigated. The ceremony was brief. We could not even bury her near our father.”
Their father had been buried in a grave belonging to his side of the family. Burying their mother there would have meant being unable to open it for 10 years.
“We would like to be given the possibility of buying the grave in which she is now buried as there is no one else buried in it and since it must remain closed for so long,” she adds.