Patrick Ewing Advises People To Take COVID-19 Seriously After Being Hospitalized With The Virus

Patrick Ewing says he’s feeling better after being hospitalized last month for COVID-19, and advised people to “take it seriously.”

“I’m doing better,” he told John Fanta of the Big East Conference in a video interview. “I’m still taking it a day at a time. For those folks who are not taking this coronavirus seriously, please do.”

Ewing, 57, is entering his fourth year as the head men’s basketball coach at Georgetown. The school announced last month that he had been hospitalized with the virus. He also revealed that his daughters suffered from the virus as well.

“I don’t even know how I caught it, but I did,” Ewing said. “And I’m doing much better today than I was. … Everyone’s experience is different. My older daughters had it a little bit in New York. They lost their sense of taste, sense of smell. I had chills, high temperature, shortness of breath. Of course, you feel crappy, you don’t feel yourself. … But I’m better and I say thank you to all the people at Georgetown University Hospital that took care of me.”

Ewing was the No. 1 overall pick of the Knicks in the 1985 NBA Draft and also played for the Seattle SuperSonics and Orlando Magic. He was an 11-time NBA All-Star and helped lead the Knicks to the 1994 NBA Finals.

Per the CDC, there are more than 2.4 million cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. with more than 122,000 deaths.

Ewing’s message to Americans going forward in the pandemic?

“Just be safe,” he said. “Don’t take it for granted. Just continue to practice social distancing. Wear your mask, wash your hands, do all the things that everyone is telling you to do. Even with doing all that, you still might get it.”