NEW ROCHELLE, NY – A year ago, a father of four in this New York City neighborhood deteriorated from having a mild cough to a feeling of drowning.
It was one of the first coronavirus cases in New York. Soon, Gov. Andrew Cuomo imposed a containment zone on his city to curb its spread and called it “Patient Zero.” There was a strong flow of support for the man’s family while he was in a medically induced coma, as well as a few blows from people who blamed him for an outbreak.
Now, Lawrence Garbuz says he feels a deep gratitude for the joys of living: his family, his Orthodox Jewish community, and the beauty of a tree near the door that he barely noticed before he got sick.
At 51, he has counseled other Covid-19 patients seeking advice and his wife, Adina Lewis, has comforted many spouses. Some were devastated by the loss of a disease that killed more than half a million Americans on Monday, including 38,557 in New York.
“If you can sit down and talk to someone and listen, that’s very therapeutic,” Garbuz said in an interview. “I think we’ll get over this whole pandemic when we hear more than we talk about.”