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  2020-07-20

  They Survived: Beating COVID-19 After 70

  When Covid-19 cases began making the news in America, the stories were centered around nursing homes, where the population seemed especially susceptible. Day after day more reports of Covid-19 infecting and killing numerous patients and residents within these facilities painted a dire picture. And it is still dire. However, there are individuals who, despite their advanced age, survived Covid-19. This article from the AARP highlights four individuals in their 70s and 80s who suffered through serious cases involving long hospital stays and ventilators that made it through this virus. An interesting aspect of this article is every person interviewed ends their section by chastising people going out to restaurants, bars, and not wearing masks. Though they survived, they used this platform to try and convey the severity of the situation. As an 80-year-old female survivor from New York stated “This is not the flu. This is something that wants to kill you. It saps your strength and makes you feel like you prefer to die. This disease is such an unknown quantity. I cannot understand why anyone would refuse to wear a mask. It's a pandemic!” Hopefully, people reading survivor stories such as these will make people reflect on the choices, they are making for themselves and their communities.