Attorney at center of New Rochelle coronavirus outbreak wakes from coma

The attorney at the center of the coronavirus outbreak in New Rochelle, New York, has emerged from his coma.

Lawrence Garbuz “is awake and alert and seems to be on the road to full recovery,” his wife, Adina, says in a post on Facebook. She has not seen him in person, but communicated through FaceTime.

She says her husband had no idea what was wrong with him when he awoke, and asked her to make sure that others were aware of his illness so they would not get it, unaware of the community’s lockdown.

A one-mile containment zone has been set up around New Rochelle with the hope of slowing the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus.

“Realizing now that it is widespread, he is trying to comprehend a world where no one goes out, no social gatherings, no religious services, no Purim!! But he seems to be quickly adding it all up,” she writes.

Originally diagnosed with pneumonia, Garbuz had been on a ventilator since March 1, according to The New York Times.

Adina Garbuz and two of her children, as well as a neighbor who drove her husband to the hospital, all contracted COVID-19.

— JTA