Lawrence Garbuz, a lawyer from the New York suburb New Rochelle and an observant Jew, was one of the very first coronavirus patients in the city, and has been blamed for helping spread the virus.
Garbuz was seriously ill, and at times his life was in danger. On Monday, he was released from the hospital to continue his recovery, and gave an interview to NBC about his dramatic months as "patient zero."
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Garbuz, 50, had been feeling unwell in February but said corona "wasn't on his mind" when he became ill.
"I'm a lawyer. I sit at a desk all day," he said. "I think at the time we were sort of focusing on individuals who had maybe traveled internationally, something that I had not done," he told NBC.
However it happened, he contracted the virus, which spread quickly throughout New York proper.
"I really have not focused on any of the media frenzy in terms of one of the first patients to get it," Garbuz said. "But I have been focused more on, as I say, getting better."
Garbuz says that he has no recollection of what took place between the time he arrived at the emergency room with severe symptoms and the time he woke up from his induced coma.
Garbuz's wife, Adina, said it was "shocking."
"A healthy, vibrant person, all of a sudden overnight gets so sick so quickly. I know that at this point, we're not so surprised by that. But at that time, it was shocking," she said.
Adina Garbuz made the decision to have her husband hospitalized, despite her fears, and made sure he was intubated during the ride to the hospital.
"My wife saved my life," Garbuz said.
