Together Since 1952, a Couple Separated When Coronavirus Hits Gets a Happy Reunion

Medical City Children's Hospital intensive care unit (ICU) physician Dr. Sharon Sandell reports on National Public Radio that her parents, assisted-living community residents Larry and Anne Sandell, were forced to separate when they both received a COVID-19 diagnosis. They spent four weeks apart, an especially hard prospect for Anne, who was suffering cognitive decline. When they were released from their respective hospitalizations, Sandell notes that "my parents couldn't go back to their apartment in the assisted-living community; it was quarantined and my father was still positive for the virus. So my younger brother . . . and I rented them a furnished house." They were reunited on April 29 but had to wear masks in each other's company and sleep in separate rooms until May 8. "As an ICU doctor with 30 years of experience, I believe the moral to the story is this: In a world of pandemic virus, speed is of the essence," Sandell says. "Because of the daily temperature testing and assessment, my parents were sent to the hospital as soon as they developed a fever. I believe that may have saved their lives."