Covid 19 Survivor stories

[Missy]

Thought we could use a bit of good news...firsthand accounts from people who survived Covid 19. Please share any survivor stories here.

One of the country’s first known COVID-19 survivors shares her story

One woman is using her survival story to help researchers battle COVID-19.

www.kold.com

By Megan McNeil | April 16, 2020 at 5:22 PM MST - Updated April 16 at 6:20 PM
TUCSON, Ariz. (KOLD News 13) - Elizabeth Schneider went to a house party in Seattle in late-February. Three days later, she spiked a fever of about 103 degrees.
“I had a fever. I had body aches. I was tired,” Schneider said.
She said she didn’t have a cough but eventually tested positive for COVID-19.
“I was really shocked,” she said.
It was a time when there were only 15 cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, in the U.S. Now, with more than 600,000 cases and 32,000 deaths nationwide, house parties like the one Schneider attended, are a thing of the past.
She wasn’t the only one feeling the shockwaves of her diagnosis. Thousands of miles away from Seattle, her parents Bert and Peggy Schneider were hit hard by the news in the Sonoran desert.
“It was very scary, to say the least,” Peggy Schneider said.

Elizabeth Schneider, a Tucson native who lives in the Pacific Northwest, tested positive for COVID-19 after she attended a party in Seattle, Wash. in late February 2020. Schneider is one of the first known survivors of the disease. (Source: Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Schneider)
“My heart stopped. I couldn’t believe it…so this has hit home for us,” Bert Schneider said.
Elizabeth graduated from Canyon Del Oro High School in 2001 and then the University of Arizona in 2005. After her recovery, Schneider shared her COVID-19 story online — it went viral.
“It sort of just snowballed from there,” she said.
While her story spread through outlets like The New York Times, CNN and FOX News, and after she fully recovered, Schneider was in Tucson for a few weeks helping her parents. She said she felt safer shopping for groceries and running errands for them since she had survived the disease.
Her help, much like her story in the media, would not stop there. As one of the first COVID-19 survivors, Schneider said she signed up for five research studies and is donating blood and plasma for therapies and vaccination research — some of which are looking promising for patients.
“We are very, very proud of what she’s doing,” Peggy Schneider said.
Schneider is still working from home in Seattle but said she plans to come back to Tucson for a few weeks to help her parents again.

 

[Missy]

'I’m not dead, and each day is slightly better': The story of a senior coronavirus survivor

Greg Foudy battled an unrelenting wave of aches, chills, fever, fatigue, coughing for more than a week with coronavirus. Now he wants to help others.

www.usatoday.com

BERGEN COUNTY, N.J. – The first sign that Greg Foudy had been infected with coronavirus came in an unrelenting wave of chills that made him blast the heat in his Cresskill home until "it felt like an oven."

It was late on March 10 and Foudy's temperature had already risen above 102.

Over the next two weeks, the 65-year-old retiree would become as sick as he's ever been. With growing frustration, he and his wife navigated a complicated and fractured health system seeking help. And finally, on the road to recovery, he dedicated himself to helping others avoid a disease that "knocked the hell" out of him.

Coronavirus hits older people especially hard. Eight out of 10 deaths reported in the U.S. have been among adults 65 and older, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And while Foudy is at the youngest end of that demographic, he still counts himself lucky.

“I’m not dead, and each day is slightly better, so I can’t feel too bad for myself,” Foudy said with a chuckle.

Greg Foudy ,65, of Creskill battled COVID-19 for several weeks in March 2020. (Photo: Special to NorthJersey.com)
Retirement and recovery
The owner of a commercial refrigeration repair company, Foudy shut down his business in January after decades of servicing restaurants, bakeries and stores throughout New York.

He was just sinking into retired life when he became sick.

The fever that began on March 10 was not going away. Electric blankets, a raging radiator and copious amounts of Tylenol did only so much to manage his chills.

“I knew something was serious,” he said.


Why a treatment used for over a century on diseases like measles, mumps and influenza could work to treat the new coronavirus strain. USA TODAY
He suspected it was coronavirus, and he mentioned it when he spoke to his family doctor of 30 years by phone. The doctor told Foudy he might have the flu, but cautioned him from coming into the medical office or going to the hospital just yet.

Foudy considered himself in pretty good health but like many men his age took daily medications for blood pressure and cholesterol.


The aches and pains came next, followed by near-crippling fatigue. Taking a short walk to the hallway bathroom wiped him out.

“All the little things you do that you take for granted were lost,” he said. “Walking up and down the hallway felt like I was running a marathon.”

Foudy soon isolated himself from his wife, Dale Kopel, and their two grown children, by staying in a guest bedroom.

He often slept for more than 20 hours a day – a welcome respite from the aches, chills and uncontrollable cough that had developed.

“I felt like I’d rather be asleep than being awake and feeling that way,” he said. "Your brain kind of shuts down. I might not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but it felt like my brain turned to mush. It was hard to concentrate on anything."

Foudy ate nothing for days. He only drank water. He ended up losing 23 pounds.

"This is not how you want to lose weight," he said. "Going from 165 to 142 pounds at my age is not what I wanted to do."


Foudy pressed his doctor to give him a prescription so he could get a coronavirus test. On March 18, he had his nose swabbed at a drive-up site in Englewood Health hospital's parking lot.

Foudy said he was told he would get the results in 24 hours.

It took 12 days – and came back positive.

"Of course it was," he said. "I thought it was obvious. It ran the classic course of COVID-19.”

By then Foudy had been feeling a lot better, even though he had a bout with bacterial pneumonia that antibiotics quickly cleared up.

"I was angry that it took so long to get tested and then get the results, but then I did a mental reboot and realized they’re trying to put out a fire with a Dixie cup,” Foudy said.

His wife was also frustrated that it took so long and questioned whether the lag time was giving the public an inaccurate account of how far infections had spread.

“The overall numbers are so off because people aren’t allowed to be tested, and there’s a huge lag in getting the results,” said Kopel.

Kopel said she felt mild flu-like symptoms for about two days. “I suspect I might have it, but I don’t know,” she said.

Foudy isn’t sure when he was infected, but he suspects it was at a dinner party about a week before his symptoms started. At least one other person at the dinner, attended by about 50, came down with symptoms.

How recovered patients can fight the disease
Mount Sinai Health System in New York is appealing to those who have fully recovered from COVID-19 to donate blood plasma to help those with severe cases.

Plasma from recovered patients is rich with antibodies that fight against the virus. The antibodies will be transfused into critically ill patients with the hope that they can neutralize the virus.

The procedure was used successfully in China, which reported that some patients improved within 24 hours, with reduced inflammation and viral loads, and better oxygen levels in the blood, a report by Mount Sinai researchers said.

Foudy says he wants to make a donation as soon as he can.

“I feel fortunate that I didn’t die or infect anyone else,” he said.

“I also was lucky," he said. "I had all my ducks lined up in a row when it came to closing my business and retiring. I didn’t have to worry about not having an income because I would have had to shut the business down. So I want to do everything I can to help those who may not be as fortunate."

Any recovered patient wishing to join the Mount Sinai effort can sign up here.

 

[Asscherhalo_lover]

This is from a young man (younger than me) who is a teacher near my community. Terrifying.

Long Island Covid Survivor

Otherwise extremely healthy, no other "conditions" and barely over 30.

 

[Missy]

Recovering from coronavirus: Three harrowing stories of surviving Covid-19

We have spoken to three people who were hospitalised after contracting coronavirus.

www.bbc.com

While the number of coronavirus deaths has risen above 2,000 in the UK, most people who contract the virus go on to get better.
Some people experience relatively mild symptoms, or even no symptoms at all. Others have no option but hospital treatment. We have spoken to three people who were hospitalised after developing Covid-19.
All are at different stages of their lives, and are recovering in isolation.
'I was fighting for mine and my baby's life'

Image captionKaren Mannering with her husband before she contracted Covid-19.
Karen Mannering from Herne Bay in Kent is six months pregnant with her fourth child. The 39-year-old started struggling with a persistent cough and a fever during the second week of March, but hospital staff were wary of bringing her in. On day 11, that changed.
"I called 999 and my breathing sounded so bad an ambulance was at our house within minutes," explains Karen. "I was literally gasping for air so they put me on oxygen straight away."
Karen tested positive for Covid-19. She had pneumonia in both of her lungs and was isolated in a hospital room for a week.
"No one was allowed to come and see me," she says. "It was a very lonely, dark time. I was bed-bound for two or three days. I couldn't even go to the toilet. If they needed to change the bed sheets, they would have to turn me over.
"When I struggled to breathe, I would buzz for help and would have to wait for staff to get their protective equipment on before they could attend to me. I was constantly on the phone to my family to keep me calm. I was scared I was going to die and my family say they had prepared for the worst.
"I was fighting for every single breath. I was fighting for mine and my baby's life."
Karen says she will never forget the feeling of crisp, cold air on her face the day she left hospital.
"My husband and I drove home with our face masks on and the windows open," she says. "The breeze felt amazing. I suddenly appreciated the smallest of things."
Karen is now self-isolating at home, but in a room away from the rest of her family. She is getting stronger, but still has a dry cough which could last months.
She believes she could have contracted coronavirus at the beauty salon where she works, but she may never know for sure. She may also never know how her family seems to have escaped the virus.
"I just wanted someone to help me"
Jessie Clark from Sheffield knew she would be vulnerable if she contracted Covid-19 - she has chronic kidney disease and five years ago had a kidney removed. When the 26-year-old started coughing and becoming increasingly breathless she started to worry. Within days, she was struggling to walk.

Image captionJessie Clark was hospitalised after she struggled with her breathing.
"I also had a lot of pain in my ribs, back and abdomen," explains Jessie. "I felt like I had been beaten up."
Two days after Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the UK was going into lockdown, Jessie's fiance Tom drove her to A&E. They were quickly separated because of safety restrictions.
"I was scared to be alone, but I was so poorly I just wanted someone to help me," Jessie says. "I was given a green mask with a wired bit around the nose to keep it up. I was taken to a unit which seemed to be being used for Covid-19 patients. Social distancing was in place so we had bays separated by walls with a bed in each bay.
"I wasn't tested for Covid-19. My doctor told they 'couldn't swab everyone, but it was safe to assume I had it'. He said the pain I was experiencing was the inflammation from my lungs and that I should keep self-isolating and taking painkillers.

"I have never had breathing issues before. It is scary not knowing if you are going to stop breathing or if what you are feeling is normal for the virus."
Jessie was in hospital for six hours. Tom waited for his fiancé in the car park, unsure what was happening. He is a key worker and the couple think he may be asymptomatic and accidentally gave Jessie the virus.
Five days after leaving hospital, Jessie still struggles to walk and sleeps up to 18 hours a day. She sometimes has coughing fits but can breathe more easily.
"I think some young people think they're invincible, but most are taking coronavirus seriously now," she said. "There has been a lot of information telling us this virus doesn't affect people my age, but it definitely does."
"I was within a whisper of a very dark place"

Image captionStewart Boyle says he could feel the virus attack his lungs, making it difficult to breathe.
Stewart Boyle is almost certain he contracted coronavirus at one of his choir meetings a few weeks ago.
"We were all social distancing when we met on the Thursday, but by Sunday a high number of people had come down with flu-like symptoms," he says.
Over the following 10 days, the 64-year-old's health declined.
"It's quite subtle at first," he explains. "But then I would try to climb the stairs and be wheezing like an old man. Soon I didn't have the ability to exercise or move at all. The virus was attacking my lungs and I was losing the capacity to fight back."

Stewart's family called 111 and he was taken to hospital.
"It was like something out of a movie," he says. "I was wheeled into the 'red zone' and there were loads of tests being carried out and swabs being taken. They thought I had coronavirus so they upped my oxygen. There were a couple of hours where I was within a whisper of a very dark place and I thought, 'maybe my time is up'. But I wanted to live.
"I could feel the battle in my lungs and it required all my reserves to get through it. The extra oxygen gave my lungs a break and gave me the added energy to push out the disease. The NHS staff were incredible, but all they can do is help you fight the virus. There's no vaccination or magical potion that can save you. It's about your own resilience."

Image captionStewart Boyle in hospital.
On Saturday, Stewart left hospital and is now self-isolating at home. He has been drinking a lot of water to help his lungs and throat recover.
Meanwhile, his choir has performed a special song for him via Zoom.
"The song was about looking after me and holding me. It was stunning," he says. "I'm a long way off to getting my singing voice back. All I can do right now is croak."

 

[Missy]

Six Hudson Valley residents tell their stories of surviving COVID-19

Tylenol and chicken soup For Matthew Lawrence, it started with pain the night of April 2. “I kind of knew something was wrong, started...

www.recordonline.com

For Matthew Lawrence, it started with pain the night of April 2.
“I kind of knew something was wrong, started getting aches and pains,” the 48-year-old construction project manager from New Windsor said.
“That first weekend, I felt like I was 95 years old,” he said. He compared it to when he caught the flu in 2013, when he ran a fever of 104 degrees and almost died. “This was worse,” he said. “It felt like my hips, my shoulders, my knees - anywhere there was a joint, it felt like there was no fluid in the joints. It was hurting all the time. You can’t even lift your head from the pillow. You don’t want to eat.”
Lawrence said he woke up between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. on Friday, April 3, with a fever somewhere between 102-103 degrees.
His kids were with him, so at 7 a.m. he put on an N95 mask, opened the windows and sent them to their mother’s house. (He said his kids are healthy, although they’ve had to self-quarantine.)
Lawrence said that after calling around, he got a telemedicine appointment with Middletown Medical, and after 15 minutes the physician’s assistant told him she was 95 percent sure he had COVID-19. She arranged a test for April 5 at a former dance studio on Route 211 in the Town of Wallkill that has been converted to a testing center, where staff were gowned head to toe, wearing masks and goggles. Lawrence said it took less than 48 hours to get the unsurprising results: positive for COVID-19.
Following the PA’s advice, Lawrence said, he took Tylenol to stave off the fever, which would come roaring back every time the dose wore off. By April 7, the fever started to take longer to come back. When he developed a cough, he started Robitussin and a decongestant, as the PA advised, and he started to feel better.
Lawrence said his girlfriend stuck by him through his illness, and he made himself eat breakfast. He drank a lot of fluids, mostly water with lemon, and had some chicken broth. As of April 11, he’d been fever-free for 72 hours and was deemed recovered.


He wants people to remember that most who catch COVID-19 will recover; it just depends on how it hits.
“There are thousands of people dying, but there are hundreds of thousands of people recovering,” he said. “I think we just have to understand it more.”
Heather Yakin
Recovered and donating plasma
For a man in the business of saving lives through firefighting, City of Newburgh Assistant Fire Chief Tim Dexter is looking to save a few more by donating his plasma to people battling coronavirus.
Dexter was the second person to donate his blood containing COVID-19 antibodies at the Red Cross in Albany last week, he said. The procedure took about 40 minutes and was conducted after he tested negative for the virus.
He was informed Monday morning his donation may have helped stabilize a patient at Vassar Brothers Medical Center in Poughkeepsie.


Dexter, 34, considers himself lucky to have only experienced mild symptoms for about four days – lower-back pain being the worst – beginning on March 18.
He’s not sure how he contracted the virus. Dexter said it’s possible he was exposed while conducting his firefighting duties, but it is hard to tell.
He first learned he could help coronavirus patients by donating plasma from a Facebook post by a friend who works at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City.
Unfortunately, he was unable to donate in time to help a friend of a friend who was sick in Norwalk, Connecticut.
Dexter said his friend had personally approached him about donating his plasma for the man who was 30 years old and had been in good health before contracting coronavirus.
“There is no worse feeling for a fireman than to feel like you can’t do something to help,” Dexter said. ”... It kills me.”
So, when he heard another acquaintance’s sick loved one could benefit from his donation in Poughkeepsie, he immediately emailed her doctor about donating in order not to waste any time.


“I’m trying to help as many people as I can,” Dexter said.
Lana Bellamy
Grateful for good care
Listen well to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control’s guidance, and be grateful the Hudson Valley has so many skilled health-care providers, like those at Orange Regional Medical Center.
That’s Richard Golden’s advice regarding COVID-19, which he contracted late last month. Golden, 67, of Hamptonburgh, recently became seriously ill and spent nine days at ORMC, where he was treated for the virus.
Golden, who’s a lawyer and also Hamptonburgh town justice, was stricken with COVID-19 on March 20, and his health spiraled downward for 10 days. Waves of aches and pain swept his body, plus he had headaches and earaches, nausea and shortness of breath.
On April 1, he tested positive for the disease. That was two days after Golden was admitted to ORMC, where he stayed until April 7.


His fever peaked at 103.6, and doctors, whose treatment regime included the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine and intravenous vitamin C, said he nearly needed a ventilator, he said.
“I was constantly taken care of by many doctors, nurses and aides, who were unbelievably attentive, kind and caring,” Golden said.
COVID-19 was “debilitating,” he added. It made it “difficult to breathe, even with the oxygen, with even the slightest exertion ... I felt completely exhausted.”
Golden is still very weak, but he said he’s on the mend and grateful for his three adult children and his “wonderful wife Barbara at home.”
Daniel Axelrod
Test results explained her splitting headaches
Amanda Dana almost didn’t get tested for COVID-19 because her symptoms were so mild. But Dana, director of Orange County’s tourism and film offices, did get tested.



The positive result explained days of splitting headaches in her sinuses and her frontal lobe. She quarantined for 14 days with her golden retriever puppy, Phoebe. Dog walks and fresh air from open windows helped keep her sane.
Dana’s symptoms were largely mild, except for powerful headaches, a loss of her senses of taste and smell, plus one feverish day. The brunt of her illness lasted from March 26 to March 29. By the time she received her positive test results on April 7, Dana had recovered.
“I feel like I have a new lease on life,” Dana said. “I dodged a bullet.”
Daniel Axelrod
He prepared for his demise, but he’s one of the survivors
In late February, as he and his wife prepared for a trip from his home in Chester to Florida for Bike Week, Robert Kippel thought he had the flu.
At that point, neither Kippel, who is a retired NYPD lieutenant and former funeral director, nor the medical personnel he consulted expected COVID-19.


He went to urgent care, they said it was the flu and told him he’d feel better in five to seven days.
“Five days later, I said, I’ve got to get better. We have to head down,” Kippel recalls.
Kippel, 63, and wife, Deborah Kippel, headed south, his 2016 Harley Ultra in tow, to the RV they keep in St. Augustine for winter vacations. They arrived on March 6.
Deborah Kippel, retired after 30 years as a nurse at Orange Regional Medical Center in the Town of Wallkill, knew something was very wrong.
“I was getting worse, and my wife said, ‘I’m taking you to the hospital,’” he said. He was having trouble breathing, deeply concerning for someone with asthma and who had suffered some lung damage assisting in search and recovery after 9/11 in New York and after Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana.
He was admitted to Flagler Hospital with pneumonia, and over the next four days, his condition worsened. Soon, he was on oxygen.
“I was pretty incoherent,” he said, bad enough that doctors decided on surgery to determine if something in his intestines was causing pneumonia, which wasn’t responding to the antibiotics they had administered.


Just as he was about to get anesthesia, Kippel said, “a team of people in spacesuits came in and took me to an isolation room.”
That’s when they told him he had COVID-19.
“I was almost in tears,” he said.
Meanwhile, his wife got more terrible news: Her 63-year-old brother had died.
“Her husband was going into an isolation ICU. She’s quarantined now with no support system,” Kippel said. “It was horrible for her.”
At some point late at night, he said, he phoned his wife and asked her to call a funeral director to make arrangements, just in case. He doesn’t remember the call.
He credits the nurses at Flagler with saving his life, holding him up and helping him as a respiratory therapist worked with him on his breathing, caring for him.

“If I didn’t have that kind of one-on-one attention, I don’t know if I would have survived,” he said.
The hospital discharged him on March 16, and he and Deborah were in quarantine until March 22. His was the first COVID-19 case diagnosed at the hospital or in St. John’s County, Fla., he said.
Before heading home to New York, where everything was shutting down, Kippel went to a little barbershop for a haircut, only to hear the guy in the next chair going on about some biker from Long Island who showed up in St. Augustine despite knowing he had the coronavirus.
Kippel said he set the guy straight. He’d been a paramedic in NYC in the 1970s before joining the NYPD, and would never knowingly endanger people like that.
Kippel said it has taken him about a month to heal.
“If they had the gyms open, I’d be back to 100 percent,” he said.
Heather Yakin

It could have been worse
“I’m incredibly lucky,” said Michael Gilfeather of Middletown. He did catch COVID-19. But he considers his case mild.
Sure, he got sick. Sure, it beat up his body, but he said it could’ve been far worse.
It was more like a “stomach virus or maybe a little bit of food poisoning,” Gilfeather, 62, said of the illness, which hit him on March 28 and lasted for about seven days.
Now that he’s recovered, Gilfeather, who’s president and CEO of Orange Bank and Trust, said he’s looking to give back. Because he’s had the disease, valuable antibodies exist in his blood.
So, he wants to donate blood to the Red Cross. And he wants the public to know that people need not fear those who have recovered from the disease.
“The most important thing, besides that I’m lucky, is that we’re now in a phase where employees who’ve had (COVID-19) are coming back into the workforce, and we all have to get accustomed to that,” Gilfeather said.
Daniel Axelrod

 

[Missy]

‘We’re the pioneers’: Survivors of COVID-19 share their stories - National | Globalnews.ca

We all know we should be afraid of it, but relatively few Canadians have experienced COVID-19 themselves.

globalnews.ca

 

[Missy]

I’ll share a personal one. My colleague and friend (ophthalmologist) who is 48 with no prexististing conditions fell ill with Covid early March. Most likely from a patient.

He started with vague symptoms and a fever. Week 2 he had trouble breathing. Went to hospital was admitted and then ended up in the ICU.

They were getting close to having to intubate him. But finally he turned a corner weeks after being admitted.

The doc told him that the course of hydroxychloroquine and zpac prob saved him from being intubated. May do a trial of interluekin 6.

He was just released from the hospital last week and is now recuperating at home. He needs probably months of physical therapy. He won’t be seeing patients anytime soon.

But he’s ok. He’s alive. He survived. ❤

 

[OoohShiny]

Thought we could use a bit of good news...firsthand accounts from people who survived Covid 19. Please share any survivor stories here.

One of the country’s first known COVID-19 survivors shares her story

One woman is using her survival story to help researchers battle COVID-19.

www.kold.com

If I may be pedantic we must remember that the estimated 50% of people who get Covid-19 but remain asymptomatic are surviving just fine

But, of course, '(wo)man has no symptoms and carries on with life' does not a dramatic news story make lol

 

[Demon]

If I may be pedantic we must remember that the estimated 50% of people who get Covid-19 but remain asymptomatic are surviving just fine

But, of course, '(wo)man has no symptoms and carries on with life' does not a dramatic news story make lol

Maybe more like no story at all since they don't even know they have it?

 

[Missy]

If I may be pedantic we must remember that the estimated 50% of people who get Covid-19 but remain asymptomatic are surviving just fine

But, of course, '(wo)man has no symptoms and carries on with life' does not a dramatic news story make lol

Please share where you get your statistics. IIRC 1 out of 4 are asymptotic carriers.


Yes 1 out of 4 which translates to 25%. I was always quite good in math.

It's Estimated 1 in 4 Coronavirus Carriers Could Be Asymptomatic. Here's What We Know

The latest research on how the virus spreads without symptoms.

www.sciencealert.com

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2003762

 

[OoohShiny]

Please share where you get your statistics. IIRC 1 out of 4 are asymptotic carriers.


Yes 1 out of 4 which translates to 25%. I was always quite good in math.

It's Estimated 1 in 4 Coronavirus Carriers Could Be Asymptomatic. Here's What We Know

The latest research on how the virus spreads without symptoms.

www.sciencealert.com

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2003762

We all know 74.589% of all statistics are made up lol


I was taking that figure from the naval warship example that has recently been reported (but, naturally, I now can't find the link for the story... lol)


But other research seems to be suggesting anywhere from 5% to 80% asymptomatic cases:
https://www.cebm.net/covid-19/covid-19-what-proportion-are-asymptomatic/

That link ^^^^ seems not dissimilar to your link, which itself notes a wide range of different of asymptomatic percentages, and that being asymptomatic now does not mean one won't become symptomatic in time!

 

[Missy]

We all know 74.589% of all statistics are made up lol


I was taking that figure from the naval warship example that has recently been reported (but, naturally, I now can't find the link for the story... lol)


But other research seems to be suggesting anywhere from 5% to 80% asymptomatic cases:
https://www.cebm.net/covid-19/covid-19-what-proportion-are-asymptomatic/

That link ^^^^ seems not dissimilar to your link, which itself notes a wide range of different of asymptomatic percentages, and that being asymptomatic now does not mean one won't become symptomatic in time!

I guess the only accurate answer is time will tell. I’m thinking good thoughts for everyone. I’m not religious but I’m keeping everyone here and all my family and friends in my non religious prayers. Never hurts, right?

So time will tell. And I’m hoping with time the statistics will show a very low death percentage. Given that the USA at least, isn’t testing enough I’m hoping the fatality percentage is much lower than it currently shows.

 

[MaisOuiMadame]

My Covid 19 stories aren't much better than @missy 's. Iirc (not much sleep tonight) : Two dead, three in hospital (one ICU, others not), four very very sick at home. Three with various mild symptoms (GI, bad flu) .

But my friend who's husband had the flu symptoms didn't catch it! Yay for that!

 

[Missy]

My Covid 19 stories aren't much better than @missy 's. Iirc (not much sleep tonight) : Two dead, three in hospital (one ICU, others not), four very very sick at home. Three with various mild symptoms (GI, bad flu) .

But my friend who's husband had the flu symptoms didn't catch it! Yay for that!

I am so sorry @kipari

I’m glad your friend’s dh didn’t get Covid.

 

[Missy]

Wonderful recovery stories.

103-year-old Italian says 'courage, faith' helped beat coronavirus

To recover from the coronavirus, Ada Zanusso recommends courage and faith, the same qualities that have served her well for nearly 104 years.

abc30.com

"

CORONAVIRUS
103-year-old Italian says 'courage, faith' helped beat coronavirus

By PAOLO SANTALUCIA
https://abc30.com/watch/

Nearly 300,000 have recovered from the coronavirus worldwide.

ROME -- To recover from the coronavirus, as she did, Ada Zanusso recommends courage and faith, the same qualities that have served her well in her nearly 104 years.

Italy, along with neighboring France, has Europe's largest population of what has been dubbed the "super old" - people who are at least 100. As the nation with the world's highest number of COVID-19 deaths, Italy is looking to its super-old survivors for inspiration.

"I'm well, I'm well," Zanusso said Tuesday during a video call with The Associated Press from the Maria Grazia Residence for the elderly in Lessona, a town in the northern region of Piedmont. "I watch TV, read the newspapers."

Zanusso wore a protective mask, as did her family doctor of 35 years beside her, Carla Furno Marchese, who also donned eyewear and a gown that covered her head.

Asked about her illness, Zanusso is modest: "I had some fever."

Her doctor said Zanusso was in bed for a week.

"We hydrated her because she wasn't eating, and then we thought she wasn't going to make it because she was always drowsy and not reacting," Furno Marchese said.

"One day she opened her eyes again and resumed doing what she used to before," Furno Marchese said. The doctor recalled when Zanusso was able to sit up, then managed to get out of bed.

What helped her get through the illness? "Courage and strength, faith," Zanusso said. It worked for her, so she advises others who fall ill to also "give yourself courage, have faith."



COVID-19 can cause mild or moderate symptoms, and most of those who are infected recover. But the elderly and those with existing health problems can be at high risk for more serious illness.

The virus has killed nearly 18,000 people in Italy and over 88,000 worldwide. The World Health Organization says 95% of those who have died in Europe were over 60 years old.

Under Italy's five-week-long lockdown, which is aimed at containing the spread of infections that have overwhelmed hospitals, visitors aren't allowed at homes for the elderly.

Her doctor asked Zanusso what she would like to do when "they open the doors."

"I'd like to take a lovely walk," she replied. And your three great-grandchildren? "Watch them play together."

Deaths, hospitalizations and new infections are leveling off in Italy, and Premier Giuseppe Conte is expected to announce in the coming days how long the lockdown will remain in place, with expectations that some restrictions could be eased.

For now, Zanusso is isolated from other residents as she awaits a follow-up swab test to confirm she is negative for the virus.

She grew up in Treviso, in the northeastern Veneto region, where she worked for many years in the textile industry. Zanusso, who turns 104 on Aug. 16, had four children - three of whom are living - and has four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

"She's old, but healthy, with no chronic illness,'' her doctor said.

This week, Milan newspaper Corriere della Sera devoted an entire page to the stories of super-old survivors, called "healing at 100 years old." The inspirational portraits are a counterpoint to news of large numbers of deaths among elderly people living in Italian nursing homes and other assisted-living facilities.

Of the victims, most elderly weren't tested for COVID-19 if they died in nursing homes, so the numbers don't figure into Italy's overall coronavirus death toll, which is the highest in the world.

Medical staff "went through a very hard time,'' said Furno Marchese, the doctor. "It was a great emergency with so many residents ill, so to see a positive outcome was very rewarding, not only for me, but for all the people who worked hard here nonstop."

Outside the nonprofit, 61-bed Maria Grazia Residence, the Italian flag flies at half-staff in tribute to those who died of the virus."

 

[Missy]

86-year-old Italian woman beats coronavirus after 7 weeks in hospital: VIDEO

"Among the many stories of pain and suffering, Gianna's recovery gives us a great deal of hope," a local official said.

abc30.com

"

86-year-old Italian woman beats coronavirus after 7 weeks in hospital:


https://abc30.com/watch/

An 86-year-old woman broke down tears as she left a hospital in northern Italy after a weeks-long battle with COVID-19. The woman, identified only as Gianna, was shown in a video posted to Facebook by Elia Delmiglio, the mayor of Casalpusterlengo.

CASALPUSTERLENGO, Italy -- An 86-year-old woman broke down tears as she left a hospital in northern Italy after a weeks-long battle with COVID-19.

The woman, identified only as Gianna, was shown being wheeled out of the hospital in a video posted to Facebook by Elia Delmiglio, the mayor of Casalpusterlengo. Delmiglio shared Gianna's story with the blessing of her family.

Delmiglio said Gianna contracted COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, during a hospital stay. Over the course of seven weeks, she spent time in two different hospitals.

"She fought hard with all her strength in these weeks and, thanks to incredible work by doctors and nurses, managed to recover from COVID-19," Delmiglio wrote on Facebook. "Among the many stories of pain and suffering, Gianna's recovery gives us a great deal of hope."



For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever or coughing. But for some older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia. Over 100,000 people have recovered, including nearly 60,000 in China and more than 7,000 in Italy.

In Italy, doctors and nurses have begged the government to provide more masks, gloves and goggles and urged the public to understand how important onerous social distancing measures really are. Scientists say stopping just one person from getting the virus means scores of others will not become infected down the road.

"Help us help you," Dr. Francesca De Gennaro, who heads a small medical clinic in Italy's hard-hit Bergamo region, wrote in an open letter.

The rate of increase in Italy has slowed slightly, noted Dr. Hans Kluge, the head of the WHO's European office. He said officials hope to soon figure out whether lockdown measures in numerous countries have worked.

The Associated Press contributed to this report "

 

[OreoRosies86]

My best friend in the world survived with a mild case. Her personal trainer (age 50 and a health nut) got a very bad case but did pull through. There doesn’t seem to be a ton of rhyme or reason with this virus. Every day heathy is a blessing.

 

[Niffler75]

@kipari I missed your post earlier in the week. How are you and the people you know?

 

[DAF]

One of my Speech Pathologist friends who works in a hospital system, serving a Huntingdon's unit at a nursing home and seeing outpatients at one of the hospitals contracted CoVid-19 at the nursing home after serving as a patient care technician due to staffing shortages in the facility. She is in her mid to late 50s and has two grown boys in their 20's. She had to procure her own test in the town where she lives, and was out of work for two weeks. During the first week, she was quarantined in her bedroom, and when her symptoms began to subside, she ventured out into her home and observed social distancing with her boys. Despite gown, hair covering, surgical mask, gloves and face shield, she still managed to contract the virus. I applaud her sacrifice, not only for her willingness to work in the face of an unknown threat, but her resolve to continue that work when she returned to work this past Monday.

 

[MaisOuiMadame]

Thank you so much for asking, @Niffler75 .

Everyone is slowly recovering.
Yesterday night DHs uncle went into the icu. Awaiting the Covid test. He's over 80 and has cancer... He's got a pulmonary infection. Hoping it's not covid

 

[Niffler75]

@kipari Sorry to hear about your DH uncle. Take care, this must be a worrying time!

 

[Missy]

My best friend in the world survived with a mild case. Her personal trainer (age 50 and a health nut) got a very bad case but did pull through. There doesn’t seem to be a ton of rhyme or reason with this virus. Every day heathy is a blessing.

So glad she is OK. Yes you are so right that this virus has many different presentations and every day is a blessing. May her continued recovery go well.

One of my Speech Pathologist friends who works in a hospital system, serving a Huntingdon's unit at a nursing home and seeing outpatients at one of the hospitals contracted CoVid-19 at the nursing home after serving as a patient care technician due to staffing shortages in the facility. She is in her mid to late 50s and has two grown boys in their 20's. She had to procure her own test in the town where she lives, and was out of work for two weeks. During the first week, she was quarantined in her bedroom, and when her symptoms began to subside, she ventured out into her home and observed social distancing with her boys. Despite gown, hair covering, surgical mask, gloves and face shield, she still managed to contract the virus. I applaud her sacrifice, not only for her willingness to work in the face of an unknown threat, but her resolve to continue that work when she returned to work this past Monday.

She is very brave and I am glad she survived and is doing well.

Thank you so much for asking, @Niffler75 .

Everyone is slowly recovering.
Yesterday night DHs uncle went into the icu. Awaiting the Covid test. He's over 80 and has cancer... He's got a pulmonary infection. Hoping it's not covid

Sending good thoughts for your Uncle @kipari I am praying he does not have Covid and that is infection clears quickly. Glad everyone else is recovering by you.

Our ophthalmologist friend is still on bed rest and has to undergo PT. It will be a long while until he is able to go back to work but we are all thankful he survived and will eventually be back to where he was before Covid 19.

 

[MaisOuiMadame]

@kipari Sorry to hear about your DH uncle. Take care, this must be a worrying time!

Thank you and stay safe, @Niffler75

Our ophthalmologist friend is still on bed rest and has to undergo PT. It will be a long while until he is able to go back to work but we are all thankful he survived and will eventually be back to where he was before Covid 19.

I hope he recovers fully!!

 

[lyra]

My BIL and SIL here in Canada are recovering without intervention. Unfortunately, they have taken the COVID19 test and were told it was not accurate, so they had to do it again. They get negative then positive then negative. So there's that weird situation.

 

[canuk-gal]

HI:

@kipari sorry for such bad news.

kind regards--Sharon

 

[MaisOuiMadame]

HI:

@kipari sorry for such bad news.

kind regards--Sharon

Thank you, Sharon

 

[Missy]

My BIL and SIL here in Canada are recovering without intervention. Unfortunately, they have taken the COVID19 test and were told it was not accurate, so they had to do it again. They get negative then positive then negative. So there's that weird situation.

Glad they are recovering. What I find more worrisome than the possibly inaccurate testing is the fact we still don't know if one can get reinfected shortly after having Covid 19. So we don't know if one is immune afterwards or not. That is concerning indeed.

I hope he recovers fully!!

Thank you @kipari !
Please let us know how your uncle is doing. I am keeping him in my continued thoughts and prayers.

 

[lyra]

@missy Yes, it's concerning that the testing failed. Perhaps user error. I don't think we're doing nearly enough testing in the first place. They are not going out at all, and are separated even from their kids. Everyone is trying to protect my dear MIL who is on dialysis every other day. We live across the country from all of them.

 

[Missy]

@missy Yes, it's concerning that the testing failed. Perhaps user error. I don't think we're doing nearly enough testing in the first place. They are not going out at all, and are separated even from their kids. Everyone is trying to protect my dear MIL who is on dialysis every other day. We live across the country from all of them.

I agree with you @lyra we are not doing enough testing here as well. I don't know how we can get this under control until we are capable of testing everyone. It isn't an endpoint but it has to be available for a strong beginning and IMO we are just at the beginning...

Sending you all well wishes and hoping your MIL is OK.

 

[lyra]

I should add that for them, it's been longer than a month now.