104-Year-Old Oregon Man Believed To Be Oldest COVID-19 Survivor

Nothin' tougher than an Oregon boy.

Bill Lapschies arrives for his 104th birthday party. A World War II veteran, Lapschies is believed to be one of the world’s oldest survivors of the coronavirus. Jonathan Levinson/OPB

I recently came across an incredible and heartwarming story from OPB about a man known as Bill Lapschies. The man had a big reason to celebrate in Lebanon, Oregon outside the Edward C. Allworth Veterans’ Home - at 104 years old he has officially beat COVID-19, also known as coronavirus. The celebration, with everyone practicing social distancing of course, was small in comparison to his 100th birthday, when well over 200 people attended.

Lapschie is believed to now be the world's oldest survivor of the virus, with just over 25 days since his first symptoms and 19 days since he had a fever - according to the article at OPB.

When asked how me managed to survive the nasty virus, with a hearty laugh he said,  “I don’t know.” After a brief pause he added, “It just went away. Sit out here and you can get rid of anything.”

According to the article, he never developed severe respiratory issues and had what was considered a mild case of the virus.