sunnybrook covid recovery

A 95-year-old grandmother just recovered from COVID-19 at a Toronto hospital

More than 15,000 people in Ontario have now beaten COVID-19, according to the Ministry of Health, but it's safe to say the majority of those people aren't in their nineties

While data made available in this province doesn't break patients down by their specific ages, we do know that residents in the "80 and over" category are far more likely to die from the virus than any other group with a shockingly high current mortality rate of 27 per cent.

Studies conducted to date furthermore suggest that the severity of a coronavirus case increases with each decade of life.

This is why so many people are eager to celebrate and cheer for nonagenarians who've beaten the odds and recovered from the deadly virus.

Ruth Barmash, 95, is the latest COVID-19 patient to get a warm send-off from staff at Toronto's Sunnybrook Hospital after being discharged with a clean bill of health on May 11.

Barmash's grandson, Billy Silverstein shared video footage on Twitter this week of the touching moment his bubbe was sprung from Sunnybrook, waving gleefully as the entire ward broke out into applause.

"95 and feeling alive!!!!!" wrote Silverstein when sharing a picture of his grandmother looking ready to go. "So grateful to all the amazing staff at Sunnybrook for the world class care they provided to my grandmother as she took on #COVID19. Thank you x100000000000."

Silverstein, himself an internal medicine resident at Sunnybrook, later told CTV that his grandmother had been admitted to hospital in early May with symptoms of COVID-19 after being told in April by Toronto Public Health that she may have come into contact with someone who had tested positive.

Barmash tested positive for the virus and remained in hospital until Monday, when she was released in high spirits.

Silverstein told CTV that his grandmother is an incredibly independent woman who refers to herself as a "tough old broad" and gets her nails and hair done once a week (or did, before the pandemic hit.)

He said when he asked her a few days ago how things were going in the hospital she only had two complaints: "The coffee sucked and the chicken nuggets were cold."

Lead photo by

Billy Silverstein


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