103-year-old Italian says 'courage, faith' helped beat virus
To recuperate 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 greatest population of what has been dubbed the "super old" - persons who are in least 100. As the country with the world's highest number of COVID-19 deaths, Italy is seeking 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 older people 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 during intercourse for a week.
"We hydrated her because she wasn't eating, and we thought she wasn't likely to make it because she was always drowsy rather than reacting," Furno Marchese said.
"1 day she opened her eyes again and resumed doing what she used to before," Furno Marchese said. The physician recalled when Zanusso could sit up, then managed to get out of bed.
What helped her complete the condition? "Courage and strength, faith," Zanusso said. It worked on her behalf, so she advises other people who fall ill to also "give yourself courage, have faith."
COVID-19 can cause mild or moderate symptoms, and almost all of those who are infected recover. However the elderly and the ones with existing health issues can be at risky for more serious illness.
The virus has killed practically 18,000 people in Italy and over 88,000 worldwide. The World Health Organization says 95% of those who've died in Europe were over 60 years old.
Under Italy's five-week-long lockdown, which is targeted 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 prefer to do when "they open the doors."
"I'd like to have a lovely walk," she replied. As well as your three great-grandchildren? "Watch them play together."
Deaths, hospitalizations and new infections are leveling off in Italy, and Premier Giuseppe Conte is likely to announce in the coming days how long the lockdown will remain set up, with expectations that some restrictions could possibly be eased.
For the present time, Zanusso is isolated from other residents as she awaits a follow-up swab test to verify she is negative for the virus.
She was raised in Treviso, in the northeastern Veneto region, where she worked for several 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, without chronic illness,'' her doctor said.
This week, Milan newspaper Corriere della Sera devoted a whole page to the stories of super-old survivors, called "healing at a century old." The inspirational portraits are a counterpoint to news of large numbers of deaths among elderly persons living in Italian assisted living facilities and other assisted-living facilities.
Of the victims, most elderly weren't tested for COVID-19 if indeed they died in nursing homes, therefore the numbers don't figure into Italy's overall coronavirus death toll, which is the highest in the world.
Medical staff "went through an extremely hard time,'' said Furno Marchese, the physician. "It was an excellent emergency with so many residents ill, so to visit a positive outcome was very rewarding, not merely for me, but also for all the persons 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.
