Coronavirus Update: COVID-19-Infected Colorado Man Airlifted From Peru To US

KEY POINTS

A 72-year-old Colorado man was brought in via air ambulance from Peru
The man had shown severe signs of COVID-19, which he had contracted from the country
Colorado citizens are advised to use non-medical masks to protect themselves

A 72-year-old Colorado man was flown back from Peru early Sunday morning. He was said to be seriously ill with coronavirus. He was brought in from the Latin country through the use of an air ambulance, reports say.

The man, according to Fox News, was brought to the UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital, where he is currently getting treatment. His wife, who was left behind, is scheduled to be airlifted back to Colorado Monday.

Shai Gold of the Jet Rescue Air Ambulance said that it was a challenging mission, despite the capability of the crew. It was tricky to pull off since it involved “a lot of stakeholders across international jurisdictions,” the managing director said.

Gold revealed that the couple arrived in Peru before it was in a lockdown and the airports were eventually shut down. When they contracted the virus, they needed to get out. That was when the insurance company, Aetna, connected with Jet Rescue. The company is one of the few services which is flying COVID-19 patients back to the United States.

Meanwhile, Colorado Governor Jared Polis asked his constituents to at least wear non-medical face coverings for protection against the coronavirus. He asked them to wear this protection when they needed to leave home for essential activities through the period of the outbreak, according to 9 News.

Polis said that it should be an essential part of everyone’s hygienic practice. He suggested the use of non-medical face masks since the medical variety was reserved for the use of frontliners in the hospitals and other medical facilities.

In his briefing, he gave examples of which materials to use for face coverings, should there be a shortage of non-medical ones. He said that old T-shirts and similar materials can be used to do this. A website named Colorado Mask Project was also launched to share how the protection works.

Jet Rescue, for its part, used its last two HEPA filters to bring the Colorado couple to mainland U.S. The company is asking manufacturers for more filters, to enable them to do repetitive flights to bring more coronavirus-infected Americans home.