'My hat goes off to her': 102-year-old recovering from COVID-19

Verla Pacey was just a toddlerwhen Spanish flu killed 50 million people worldwide.

Now, more than a century later, the 102-year-old is well on her way to making it through another pandemic relatively unscathed.

Pacey, a resident at theStoneridge Manor Long Term Care Home in Carleton Place, Ont., contractedCOVID-19 sometime last month but according to her grandson, BrendonPacey, whatever symptoms she had were mild.

And while she continues to test positive, she hasn't shown any signs of the respiratory illness in 14 days and is now considered recovered, he told CBC News.

"We are cautiously optimistic that she's through the thick of it," Pacey said. "I couldn't be prouder [of her] for being 102 years old and surviving such a thing."

'It's quite incredible'

Born in 1917 in New Liskeard, Ont., Verla Pacey would have been only a year old when Spanish influenza began to make its way around the globe.

Over the course of 1918 and 1919, the flu would eventually infect based on some estimates as much as one-third of the world's population. In Canada, some 55,000 people died.

According to Brendon Pacey, there's no evidence his grandmother ever contracted the virusas a young girl. The family didn't talk about those times much either, he said.

"It's quite incredible to have survived two world wars, the Spanish flu of course, and [now] to have survived this virus as well," he said.

"My hat goes off to her, and how resilient she is I'm quite speechless."

• How the Spanish flu compares to COVID-19

According to a statement issued by Revera, which operates Stoneridge Manor,52residents have contracted the virus since the outbreak began April 1.

Forty-five have recovered, while the others are in isolation, according to a statement from Dr. Rhonda Collins, the company's chief medical officer. Another 29 staff have tested positive, with 20 recovered and back at work, she added.

As of Wednesday night, six residents have died from the virus.

"My heart goes out to everyone who's lost loved ones through this," Paceysaid."I can't even imagine what it's like for somebody to lose a loved one and not be able to be there."

• Carleton Place rallies around care home with COVID-19 deaths

Douglas Black, the mayor of Carleton Place, called the COVID-19 deaths at Stoneridge Manor an "awful situation" that's resonated throughout the eastern Ontario community.

Nevertheless, he'srelieved such a high percentage of residents and staff have recovered, given the difficulty so many other long-term care homes are having withmanaging outbreaks.

"It's a good news story in the scheme of this pandemic," Black said.