A 104-year-old World War II veteran has become the oldest known survivor of the coronavirus outbreak after he defeated the disease in time for his birthday.
Bill Lapschies had a celebration with his family Wednesday to celebrate his birthday, less than a month after testing positive for the coronavirus.
“I don’t know,” Lapschies said about defeating the illness to Oregon Public Broadcasting. “It just went away. Sit out here, and you can get rid of anything.”
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The veteran’s survival is a rarity for the disease, the main casualties of which are those over 80 years old. Lapschies had a mild case of the virus and never got severe respiratory issues, according to one of his doctors.
“This could have easily gone another way,” said Dr. Rob Richardson, one of the doctors overseeing care at the veterans home. “There’s not a lot of interventions that can be done.”
Lapschies, who was born in 1916 in Salem, Oregon, also survived the 1918 Spanish flu. He would go on to be drafted by the U.S. Army in 1943.
His daughter, Carolee Brown, said her father has an upbeat personality. His personality might have been what helped him beat out 103-year-old Zhang Guangfen as the oldest coronavirus survivor.
Regarding how he felt about being 104, Lapschies told his granddaughter, Jamie Yutzie, “Pretty good.”
“I made it,” he added.
“I thought we might have a 30% mortality rate here in our facility,” Richardson said about the home in which Lapschies lives. “Because all of our veterans have some other medical problems.”
So far, 16 people have confirmed coronavirus cases at the veterans home. Half of those have recovered, though two have died.
