A 104 year-old World War Two veteran who survived the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic has become the oldest known person to have beaten coronavirus. Bill Lapschies managed to ride out Covid-19 at the Edward C Allworth Veterans’ Home in Lebanon, Oregon, where he lives. Despite his age, Lapschies only developed a ‘moderate’ case of coronavirus, and did not need a ventilator, with friends and family amazed by his recovery. They were able to mount a double celebration at the home on Wednesday to celebrate Lapschies getting better and surviving the illness, which has infected at least 236,000 Americans and killed over 5,700. Asked by OPR how he’d beaten the virus on Wednesday, Lapschies laughed and said: ‘I don’t know. It just went away. Sit out here and you can get rid of anything.’
Dr Rob Richardson, who helps oversee medical care at Lapschies’ home, was among those amazed by his patient’s recovery. He said: ‘This could have easily gone another way. There’s not a lot of interventions that can be done.’ Young people are statistically less likely to suffer serious complications or death from coronavirus, but the risk of dying rockets to one in eight for patients aged over 80, with many of those killed dying because of severe pneumonia brought on by Covid-19. Dr Richardson says bosses at the Veterans’ home began limiting interactions at the end of February in a bid to minimize the chances of its residents picking up the deadly virus, after a nursing home in neighboring Washington State lost 37 residents to Covid-19. Despite their efforts, Lapschies still picked up the virus, and was put into isolation after he began showing symptoms on March 5. A total of 16 veterans, including Lapschies, have since tested positive for Covid-19, with two of them dying. Eight others have fully recovered, with the remainder continuing to receive treatment. Two nurses with mild symptoms tried to get tested last month, only to be refused. They returned to work for another week before finally testing positive for coronavirus, with the home refusing to comment on its protocols. Lapschies, who was born in 1916 and survived the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic that killed 50 million, is now back to his old upbeat self after seeing off the new virus currently sweeping the world. Asked how he felt to be turning 104, he answered: ‘Pretty good. I made it.’ Lapschies’ recovery pushes previous oldest survivor, 103 year-old Zhang Guangfen, from Wuhan in China, into second place. (Text and photo courtesy Metro)
