Coronavirus Victoria: Man, 95, out of isolation after beating COVID-19
A 95-year-old Victorian man who called his family from COVID-19 isolation last month “to say goodbye” has amazed doctors with his recovery.
A 95-year-old man has been freed from five weeks of isolation inside a Melbourne hospital and reunited with his partner after returning two negative COVID-19 test results.
Vic Cornell, a former tennis coach who has 10 adult children, told ABC Radio on Tuesday he has overcome the coronavirus “slowly”.
“Some days I am better than others,” he said, beaming while holding two thumbs up in a photo shared with the broadcaster.
“Hope is a great thing.”
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It’s a moment his family have been waiting for after receiving a call from Mr Cornell in mid-July “to say goodbye”.
“Boy, it was emotional,” his son, Russell Cornell, told 7 News.
“We told him: ‘Dad, whatever you’re doing, you’ve always got to hate Collingwood, barrack for Carlton, he liked that’.”
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Dr Ortis Estacio said staff at Maroondah Hospital, where Mr Cornell spent five weeks in isolation, were “amazed” by the elderly man’s recovery.
“He’s just been an inspiration to us all,” Dr Estacio told 7 News.
Mr Cornell, who was waiting for a negative test result at the time, said: “I’ve got a lot to live for.”
In a post on Facebook, the hospital said: “It’s been a pleasure to look after Vic at Maroondah Hospital and so good to have him on the mend.”
“All the best to all COVID-19 patients across Victoria in their recovery.”
After returning two negative tests, the 95-year-old is out of isolation.
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Mr Cornell is now in hospital at Healesville, northeast of Melbourne, after falling and breaking his hip while exercising.
He has been reunited there with his partner Jean, who was also in hospital after recovering from the virus herself.
His son, Russell, told ABC that a few weeks ago, he didn’t think his father was going to make it.
“It is really incredible to see how he is now,” he said.
“We are lucky. it just goes to show what a great fighter he is.”
There were 222 new cases of COVID-19 announced in Victoria on Tuesday and 17 deaths
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said the latest victims were one man aged in his 60s, one woman and one man in their 70s, two women and four men in their 80s, and four women and four men in their 90s.
The national death toll is 438 and the vast majority of fatalities have been in people aged 70 and over.
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