A 106-year-old Cagayan de Oro City resident is confirmed as the city’s oldest coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) survivor according to the city’s health officials.
CHO resident epidemiologist Dr. Teodulfo Joselito Retuya Jr. said Tuesday the patient spent one month recovering from the virus. He added that the city has yet to confirm if the 106-year-old male Lumbia resident is the oldest COVID-19 survivor in the country.
´Despite having some comorbidities, this 106-year-old male resident managed to have himself admitted early in a private hospital and then transferred to the Northern Mindanao Medical Center (NMMC) after testing positive for COVID-19. He was then moved to one of the city´s temporary treatment and monitoring facilities (TTMF) where he completed his recovery by testing negative and being discharged last Oct. 18,´ CHO resident epidemiologist Retuya Jr. said.
While the city celebrated the centenarian’s recovery, Retuya reminded residents to continue to observe minimum health standards as a person´s survival and recovery rate is drastically lower when he or she has comorbidities or underlying illnesses especially respiratory diseases.
“As what City Health Officer Dr. Lorraine Nery reported Cagayan de Oro recorded 847 recoveries out of its cumulative total of 1,278 COVID-19 cases so far or about 66.2 percent recovery rate. If we are to count only local COVID-19 cases we recorded 508 recoveries out of a cumulative total of 931 local cases or about 54.6 percent,” Retuya said.
“Let´s not be complacent because based on health data about 70 or 80 percent of the COVID-19 deaths in the country involve infected comorbidities. It doesn´t mean that you cannot survive but your chances of survival and recovery are lower than those with no comorbidities,” he said. Rommel F. Lopez