A 102-year-old Icelandic woman who survived the Spanish flu has recovered from Covid-19

A 102-year-old Icelandic woman who survived the Spanish flu has recovered from Covid-19, according to a United Nations report.

Helga Gudmundsdottir was placed under quarantine at her nursing home in the West Fjords at the beginning of April. She was declared virus-free just days before her 103rd birthday.

Iceland has been one of the most successful countries at tackling the coronavirus, limiting infections and carrying out extensive testing. The country, which has a high life-expectancy rate, has reported only a dozen new cases since April 24 and is now in the process of easing restrictions.

Born during World War I, as a Danish citizen before her country´s independence, Helga has been living in Bolungarvík (population 1,000) 479 kilometres north-west of Reykjavík, the capital of Iceland, since just after World War II. She moved to the fishing village after having met and married a local seaman. When her son was only two weeks old, she had a relapse of tuberculosis, which she contracted as a young girl. She was moved to a sanitorium in the vicinity of Reykjavik where she had to stay for months, far away from her newborn.

Helga survived tuberculosis, which was called the “white death”, and has been healthy most of her life. Indeed, she lived at home until the death of her husband when she was 90. At 98 she was considered too well to qualify for a place in the town’s nursing home.

Eventually, she was accepted and was among dozens who were infected by COVID-19. “When she had a temperature of 38, I thought, “that’s it” her granddaughter said. “But she was only bed-ridden for one day, although she suffered stomach pains. She is so tough that she forced herself to drink.”

Her granddaughter, like all other staff, has had to care for patients wearing protective gear. But since all patients have now been declared COVID-free, they “only” have to wear masks and gloves. “It was suffocating, 40 degrees hot inside and really hard to work,” she explains. Other relatives gathered on a daily basis outside and cheered. They sent Helga and Agnes greetings through the windows.