Miracle Or Media Sensationalism? 12 Of 14 Infected With Covid-19 Recover At Oregon Veteran’s Home

A home for senior veterans has been the hot spot in Oregon for positive coronavirus diagnoses, with 13 residents and one caretaker coming down with the virus. 

However, as time has gone, 12 of the 14 are doing well, with one showing no symptoms anymore. It also looks like the virus isn’t transmitting as easily as we were led to believe, with 137 people who live and work at the facility testing negative.

FOX 12 reports:

It’s been just over a week since the Oregon Veteran’s Home in Lebanon reported its first case of COVID-19, and since then, a total of 14 people who live there have tested positive.

On Thursday, the doctor treating all 14 people said 12 of them are doing well, and that the very first patient to test positive doesn’t have symptoms anymore.

The doctor treating the 14 patients, Rob Richardson, says one patient is in serious condition and another is in critical condition.

“I’ve gone through numerous flu epidemics, I’ve worked in H1N1, this virus doesn’t play by the same set of rules,” Richardson said. “I am seeing crises that I have never seen before in these viral illnesses. If you ask me, after we go 21 days and everybody is afebrile, I’ll know we’re ok, until that point, I still am sleepless at night worrying about these vets.”

The other 137 people who live at the facility have tested negative for the virus.

Earlier this week, one staff member tested positive and was in isolation. Over 200 employees have been tested.

Keep in mind that all of the residents are over the age of 65, in the most susceptible age group, and apparently all of them have other health complications.

The Oregonian adds:

Most of the state veterans home residents with coronavirus are in good condition, but one is in critical condition and another in serious condition, a medical director at the nursing home said Thursday.

Fourteen elderly residents have tested positive for COVID-19 at the Edward C. Allworth Veterans’ Home in Lebanon, with the first two diagnosed March 11. All residents have been tested for the disease.

Dr. Rob Richardson said he didn’t know enough about the disease to make prognoses for the patients. Asked if the man who is in critical condition would survive, Richardson deferred to a higher power.

“That’s between him and his leader, his gospel leader,” Richardson said. “I have two weeks of experience in dealing with this infection.”

The patients range in age from 65 to over 100, Richardson said. The Oregon Department of Veterans’ Affairs, which owns the home, has said that half of them are over 90 years old.

All of the patients have underlying conditions, Richardson said.

In Seattle, a 90-year-old woman who had recently suffered a stroke and just gotten over pneumonia has overcome the coronavirus and has made a full recovery. KING 5 reports:

Ninety-year old Geneva Wood was healthy and living on her own when a stroke just after Christmas, sent her to the Life Care Center in Kirkland.

Less than a week later, at Harborview Medical Center, doctors from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention diagnosed Geneva with coronavirus (COVID-19).

Cami said things did not look good for her mom.

“Harborview called and didn’t think she was going to make it. Her lungs were filling up with fluid and they thought she wouldn’t last 24 hours,” Cami said.

But after her family visited to say their final goodbyes and dropped off her favorite potato soup, Geneva started showing signs of improvement.

In fact, her most recent test for COVID-19 came back negative. Her family says she’s still not symptom-free but continues improving.

Looking back at the timeline, Cami thinks her mom may have had coronavirus much earlier than first thought. February 18, she developed pneumonia; and now she thinks that may have been the first sign of trouble.