Infection Spreads to Relatives, Neighbor of NY Attorney Who Visited Miami

The wife, two children and a neighbor of a New York attorney hospitalized with coronavirus have tested positive for the disease, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday before officials expanded a self-quarantine group to about 1,000 people.

The 50-year-old attorney from New Rochelle traveled last month to Miami but had not been to any countries, such as China or Italy, that have been hit hard by Covid-19, Cuomo said. Florida health officials said Wednesday that he traveled by air.

The lawyer commuted by train to the six-attorney trusts and estates firm Lewis and Garbuz in Midtown Manhattan. His name was not released, but co-founder Lawrence Garbuz is the only Florida Bar member listed on the firm’s website.

The attorney was hospitalized in stable condition, and new infections brought the number of New York cases to 76 by Saturday. Health officials determined 28 people who had direct or indirect contact with the attorney were infected.

The tally included two of his children. The attorney’s son is a law student at Yeshiva University, where classes were canceled for the rest of the week, and a 14-year-old daughter attends a Jewish day school that closed Tuesday for the week. The neighbor drove the attorney to the hospital.

The wife, children and neighbor were quarantined at home. The wife and daughter are asymptomatic, and the son had mild symptoms, health officials reported. The expanded self-quarantine group covered people who had contact with the family.

The attorney’s travel to Miami prompted the Miami-Dade probate service list to ask if anyone came in contact with him during his trip. No Miami attorneys reported any contact with the attorney by late Wednesday.

New York health officials released the attorney’s destination, but Florida health officials have released no information about the man’s trip, referring inquiries to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Protection.

Mark Raymond, a litigator who handles trust work at Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough in Miami, said an administrative judge asked him Wednesday if the infected attorney had been in his court.

Court spokeswoman Eunice Sigler issued a statement late Wednesday saying there was no indication the attorney appeared in Miami-Dade courts.

The Florida Health Department website changed its format for a third time this week on coronavirus reporting Thursday.

Two Hillsborough County cases were reported in a woman in her 20s who recently returned from northern Italy, scene of an outbreak, and her sister.

By Saturday, two coronavirus patients were reported dead in Florida for a total of 16 nationally. In Florida, the virus killed two men in their 70s with recent foreign travel — one in Lee County and the other in Santa Rosa County. Overall, 14 people tested positive, including two in Broward County. Another 88 test results were pending. A total of 1,010 people had been monitored in the state, including 278 subject to current monitoring.

The people being monitored were listed as close contacts of people with confirmed cases and people who returned from China in the past two weeks.

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