At 108 years old, Sylvia Goldsholl may be the oldest person in New Jersey – and possibly anywhere else – to recover from COVID-19.

Goldsholl tested positive for the virus in March and was moved to the COVID-19 isolation wing at Allendale Community for Senior Living where she has lived since 2007. Within two weeks she was considered healthy and cleared.

Goldsholl was born on Dec. 29, 1911.

“The oldest of four children and I was the smartest one from the bunch,” she says.

No one older than Goldsholl seems to have gotten COVID-19 and survived. A web search turned up some news reports of 107-year-olds in Turkey and the Netherlands who recovered from the virus. But that was about it.

“It’s very dangerous. I survived everything because I was determined to survive” Goldsholl says.

 

 

Goldsholl has lived through her fair share of world crises. The 1918 pandemic, both World Wars and the Great Depression.

“I’m a very friendly person. If you’re friendly to me, I return the friendliness,” she says.

A longtime Bronx resident, Goldsholl moved to New Jersey 20 years ago. She was more interested in speaking about her family than the current pandemic.

“A lot of stubbornness in them, which they get from their pop. Their pop had a lot of brains…I am a survivor. I’ve got to come out on the top of every list,” she says.

The virus has taken a disproportionate toll on the elderly in New Jersey.