“Invincible” 102-Year-Old Woman Who Lived Through Spanish Flu Survives Her Second Bout with COVID-19

An elderly New York woman, who lived through the Spanish flu pandemic in 1918, has now triumphed over the novel coronavirus— for the second time.

According to People, Angelina Friedman, who made headlines earlier this year after beating the coronavirus, has survived her second bout with the respiratory illness after celebrating her 102nd birthday, according to her daughter.

Her daughter, Joanne Merola, proudly told WPIX,” Not only has she beaten COVID at 101, she’s beaten it at 102.”

Merola recalled the phone call from the North Westchester Restorative Therapy and Nursing Center, where her mother is currently living, in late October “to tell me she had tested positive again.” Just six months after her first bout with the virus that has proven to be especially dangerous to seniors.

“She had symptoms — fever, a dry cough,” Merola explained. “They thought she might also have the flu.”

As many of the staff and other residents started getting sick, Merola said older residents, like her mother, were put in isolation.

The nursing home continued to send her updates, and on November 17th, she received the news that her “invincible mother tested negative.”

“She’s not the oldest to survive COVID, but she may be the oldest to survive it twice,” Merola said.