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A New York firefighter received a warm welcome home after spending two months in the hospital because of COVID-19.
Port Ewen Second Assistant Fire Chief George Banks contracted the virus a few days before April 12 and was admitted to the hospital on Easter Sunday, the volunteer department said in an online update. He was placed in intensive care less than a week later before being transferred to a medical center in Westchester.
“The doctors told my wife I had a 20 to 40 percent chance to live,” Banks, 45, told Spectrum News earlier this week.
On Sunday, he was escorted home by his fellow firefighters. Members from other departments also welcomed him home.
“The outpouring from the community with friends and strangers, it was very overwhelming,” Banks told Spectrum News.
The firefighter, who spent the majority of his time in the hospital on a ventilator, said people shouldn't take COVID-19—or the precautions needed to keep from becoming infected—lightly.
“It’s serious. Very serious stuff,” Banks told Spectrum News. “You just don’t know who, where, when it’s going to happen. I didn’t expect it at all.”
