The 50-year-old lawyer who was the coronavirus ‘patient zero’ in Westchester has been discharged from the hospital, Gov. Andrew Cuomo revealed Sunday.
Lawrence Garbuz — who was revealed on March 2 to be the first-known carrier in New Rochelle, where the contagion quickly spread — had been so sick he was in a medically induced coma earlier this month.
“The ‘patient zero’ — what we call patient zero in Westchester, New Rochelle — who was very sick for a very long time, he has actually gone home,” Cuomo revealed at his press conference in Albany.
“He’s out of the hospital,” the governor said, offering no further details.
Cuomo hailed the news as an example of the “dramatic trendline” of people fully recovering from COVID-19 and being discharged.
“Now you’re seeing the discharge number trend way up,” he said.
Garbuz — who rode the Metro-North train to get to his Manhattan law firm — hadn’t traveled to any coronavirus hotspot countries and likely contracted the virus from someone locally.
It quickly spread among dozens in his community, prompting the mile-radius coronavirus “containment zone” centered on the family’s synagogue.
Cuomo on Sunday used it as an example of how “beautiful” religious gatherings have “made many, many people ill.”
