Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band – Entrance + “Atlantic City” – Philadelphia, PA – 8-21-2024.

Gently, Esther Teodoro rubs her husband Eduardo’s forehead, smoothing out his salt-and-pepper hair as he lies in his hospital bed.

“You’re going home, OK?” she tells him. “I can take care of you, OK?”

Eduardo can’t respond. He has a breathing tube, just one part of the complex web of medical equipment keeping the 75-year-old’s battered lungs and body functioning as he struggles to recover from COVID-19.

Esther, his wife of 38 years, was infected at the same time back in January, but her illness was mild. Now likely protected from reinfection, she’s a rare visitor allowed within the Scarborough Health Network’s Centenary Hospital intensive care unit in Toronto’s east end.