Aussie man, 84, had COVID-19 for 11 weeks with no symptoms
At 84, Wally Bridges was the last person you would want to get COVID-19 because he has so many underlying health issues. But the Tasmanian grandfather was positive for the virus for 11 weeks without a single symptom.
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Wally Bridges has had six hip replacements, been hit by a truck, broken a leg, survived bladder cancer and, at age 84, has heart issues and an aortic aneurysm.
He should have been horribly vulnerable to COVID-19 but, when he caught it, he barely felt it.
“He's like an old boot, he doesn't wear out, he just keeps on going,” said Jill, his wife of 38 years.
Mr Bridges was in Burnie Hospital in Tasmania’s northwest with a bladder infection when COVID-19 broke out due to a Ruby Princess contact in March and forced the hospital’s closure.
More than 1200 health care workers were placed into quarantine, all patients and staff were tested — and Mr Bridges was one of 200 confirmed cases.
Everyone feared the worst as he was transferred to Mersey Hospital.
“When I first went upstairs there were five of us (with COVID-19) and two of them died — that really got to me seeing them wheeled out — but I was never sick, I had no symptoms of the virus whatsoever,” Mr Bridges said.
Isolated and tended to by staff dressed head to toe in protective equipment, Mr Bridges, who “felt like a leper” kept testing positive to the virus for 11 long weeks.
“Where's Wally? He's still in the hospital, where else would he be?” Mrs Bridges has said for the past 10 weeks and five days as her “old boot” continued to test positive but without symptoms.
As the weeks dragged on the couple, who were not allowed to see each other, were given a slight reprieve to celebrate their 38th wedding anniversary.
“I was not allowed to see him, I’d go to the car park and wave,” Mrs Bridges, 72, said.
“On our wedding anniversary we got to see each other through a glass door.”
Although it was a long process, the Bridges have wondered what would have happened if he had not been identified as positive and allowed to go home, unaware he had the virus.
“That's what we are afraid of, it’s so contagious and especially with children, there are no symptoms,” Mrs Bridges said.
Finally, last week he returned two negative tests after almost three months of being infectious. The grandfather of 20, with two great-grandkids on the way, finally got to go home.
“It’s like getting out of prison,” he said.