Hi Richard,
Thanks for your response. This is an unprecedented emergency situation we are all facing and I don't have a clear answer for you. That's why I initiated the discussion, so that we can figure something out together.
There are NGOs like Akshay Patra Foundation[1], Uday Foundation[2], Rockefeller Foundation[3], Azim Premji Foundation[4] and many others who have COVID-19 support funds for their targeted communities and areas. Many of them have their scope of work aligned with this kind of situation, some don't. We may have to build our own model to protect our assets.
Regarding the scope of such a support program, IMHO, it is perfectly within our scope to protect our community members considering them the most valuable asset of Wikimedia world, as I had tried to explain in my previous email. For example, we have at least 2 known cases of recent hospitalizations of long-term volunteers having immense impactful contributions on Wikimedia sites from our local community, along with their entire family for this disease very recently. We can't afford to lose people like them physically or due to their mental breakdown in any way.
Personally I feel, insuring individuals against COVID-19 or helping people to get vaccines or sending other supports can be better handled locally by local affiliates (or local committees as proposed by Tito, whichevers seems fit) instead of a central organization like WMF. Local affiliates have better information about the vulnerable section of the community, government orders concerning the available vaccines, local market value of insurance premiums, vaccines, disinfectants etc. Sometimes they even have the money and/or the intention to extend this kind of support too, all they need is just a permission from the donor i.e. WMF Grants team.
So, if the local affiliates handle the support, they can set several criteria for the local community like (subject to change/consideration)
1) Long term/Veteran contributors (for now) from the local community
2) Very active contributors (for now) from the local community - can be moved to active contributors if possible and feasible.
3) Vulnerable section of community w.r.t. age and economic status.
4) Vulnerable section of community w.r.t. distance of residence from epicenters. etc.
Regarding feasibility, it is not necessary to support the entire global community all at a once. Support can only be provided to those countries where the curve is steeply rising and that's how the most vulnerable communities can be protected. We do have plenty of data comparing the graphs of different countries from different platforms. I can give some glimpse about India, the current epicenter of the new wave, having around 300,000 new cases every day and around 2000 deaths every day. Currently, the vaccines are almost unavailable right now in different parts of the country. Very recently, the Central Government of India has opened up the free market for Oxford-Astrazeneca manufactured vaccine Covishield, so there is a high chance of hike of price very soon, considering the demand of the vaccines[5[6]]. Hospital beds, including ICUs are in shortage, even in cities with most advanced health facilities in the country, people are dying just trying to find a bed in a hospital[7][8][9]. Oxygen cylinders are in a very short supply[10]11[12]. Overall, the picture is very alarming and depressing. We can triage countries having these kinds of grave situations first, support the local communities there and move to the next group of countries with lesser necessities.
Regards,
Bodhisattwa