Joseph Flavill doesn’t recall testing positive for the coronavirus last year – nor does he recall anything from the past 11 months.
The 19-year-old Brit has been in a coma since March 1, 2020, after sustaining a traumatic brain injury when the student was hit by a car while walking along the street in his hometown, Staffordshire Live first reported Monday. It would be three weeks in late March for the UK to enter the pandemic’s first nationwide lockdown.
“We also don’t know how much he understands because his accident was before the first lockdown, and it’s almost like he slept through the whole pandemic,” Sally Flavill Smith, Joseph’s aunt, said in a statement.
Much of Flavill’s family has not been allowed to see him in person due to pandemic security restrictions at Adderley Green, a rehabilitation center where he was transferred after waking up at Leicester General Hospital, where he has been locked up since last year.
“How do you explain the pandemic to someone who has been in a coma?” Smith asked, whose cousin also tested positive for COVID-19 twice – once while unconscious and again during rehab – and recovered.
“We try to keep it as simple as possible,” Smith also told The Guardian. “We don’t really have the time to get into the pandemic massively – it just doesn’t feel real, does it? When he can actually have personal contact, that will be the opportunity to actually explain to him what happened. “
For now, the family is visiting Flavill via video calls, although he had a brief home visit in December to celebrate his 19th birthday with his mother, Sharon Priestley – but he wore personal protective equipment and kept a safe social distance.
While far from fully recovered, Flavill’s motor and cognitive functions are slowly returning, Smith said. “We still have a long journey ahead of us, but the steps he has taken in the last three weeks are absolutely incredible.”