New York Lawyer Who Was 'Patient Zero' Goes Home From Hospital
Lawrence Garbuz, who caused Miami's first COVID-19 scare, was at the center of a large cluster of cases that helped make New York City an epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic.
March 30, 2020 at 02:58 PM
3 minute read
The original version of this story was published on New York Law Journal
Lawrence Garbuz and wife Adina Lewis (courtesy photo)
The Manhattan attorney who was New York's second reported case of the new coronavirus has improved and been released from the hospital, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said.
Lawrence Garbuz, a partner at the small trust and estates law firm of Lewis & Garbuz, was hospitalized Feb. 27. He caused South Florida's first COVID-19 scare after New York health officials reported he had recently traveled to Miami. No cases in the area have been tied to him.
After his condition was downgraded in early March to critical, the New Rochelle man recovered and was well enough to go home.
"Patient zero in Westchester, New Rochelle, who was very sick for a very long time, he has actually gone home," Cuomo said Sunday. The governor didn't identify Garbuz by name, but a spokesman confirmed he was referring to the 50-year-old lawyer.
Health authorities estimated Garbuz was in direct contact with as many as 1,000 people in a single day before his diagnosis, according to a Wall Street Journal report on the Westchester COVID-19 cluster.
While Garbuz went home, the situation in New York was expected to get worse before it gets better. Hospitals and emergency medical workers are under increasing strain and short of protective equipment. The number of 911 calls for several days last week was reportedly the highest since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Cuomo said Monday that the caseload is doubling every six days.
New York has 66,497 confirmed cases and 1,218 deaths, 253 deaths more than Sunday, Cuomo said. "That's a lot of loss, that's a lot of pain, that's a lot of tears, that's a lot of grief," he said, urging New Yorkers to stay home and health care workers from across the country to help relieve others in New York.
Adina Lewis, Garbuz's wife and law partner, posted Facebook updates about his status. On March 6, she wrote that the only manifestation of COVID-19 in other family members was "a slight cough" and said Lewis & Garbuz transitioned to remote work with everyone at the firm quarantining themselves.
On March 18, she wrote, "Lawrence is awake and alert and seems to be on the road to full recovery." Neither Lewis nor Garbuz could be reached for comment Monday.
Read more:
Lawyer at Trusts & Estates Firm Is Severely Ill, Others Being Tested for Coronavirus
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