Francisca Hernández was all smiles Monday as she left the Baudelio Villanueva hospital in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, after winning a 15-day battle against Covid-19.

On her way out to a waiting ambulance and accompanied by her daughter, Hernández extended her arm to salute the doctors and nurses who had taken care of her since she arrived at the hospital with low oxygen saturation and difficulty breathing. She said she was happy to get back to her daughter and to be able to feel the sun and fresh air on her face.

“I am happy. I feel very well,” she said as hospital personnel helped her into an ambulance to take her home, where she will continue her recuperation.

Hernández likely survived the disease — without needing intubation — because she contacted emergency personnel early on, said Armando Covarrubias, the doctor in charge of Covid-19 patients at the hospital. She is part of a trend he has seen: more people who suspect they have Covid are seeking help earlier, he said.

Of the 700 Covid-positive patients his hospital has treated, Covarrubias told the newspaper El Universal, 10 have died.

Hernández said that her family took her to the hospital when she had trouble breathing, even though her other symptoms seemed mild.

“I didn’t have a fever or a headache,” she said. “It was like a cold, but I couldn’t breathe, so they took me to the hospital.”

By the time she was admitted, her oxygen saturation was less than 80%, said Covarrubias. Under 90% is considered low.

Hernández recovered with the help of medicines they administered, Covarrubias said.

“She left in a wheelchair, her oxygen saturation at 95%, and for us that is an achievement.”

Source: El Universal (sp)