NEW YORK, NY — James Cannizzaro is a familiar face at Gotham Comedy Club in Manhattan, where he works security and greets comedians and crowds alike with his warm smile and ready laughter. But for the past weeks, Cannizzaro has been faced with a situation that’s far from funny as he’s battled the new coronavirus and, at times, been afraid that he might die.

Cannizzaro, a Long Island native who grew up in Valley Stream and now lives in Brooklyn, spoke with Patch from his bed at NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital in Park Slope — where he is on Day 17 of his stay — about his firsthand experience with the coronavirus.

“I’m on the front lines here,” he said.

He first reached out to describe the experience last week on Facebook, thanking the many who have reached out with good wishes, prayers and love during ” a very challenging time.”

Cannizzaro said he first began feeling sick on March 7, when he was very tired with a little cough.

“I chalked it up to seasonal allergies or a cold, but by Tuesday it hit me that it could potentially be COVID-19, so I took my temperature and it was 99.4,” Cannizzaro said. His temperature hovered around 99 for the next few days, when he also started to develop some other mild symptoms, he said.

“By the evening of Friday, March 13, I was feeling pretty bad — very achy, mild fevers and a cough,” he wrote on Facebook.

He went to a walk-in physician, where he was diagnosed with bilateral pneumonia and congestion, Cannizzaro said.

“They gave me a test for COVID-19, but they said they would not have the results for five days and advised me to go to the emergency room,” he said. “So, off to the ER I went. There, the doctor on duty looked at my X-ray, told me the pneumonia was viral, and that there was nothing they could do for me. They advised me to go home, use my nebulizer, rest, and hydrate.”

But by March 15, Cannizzaro said his fever had spiked to 102 degrees and he was having difficulty breathing, so he went back to the ER.

“I went in for triage, and I have not been out since,” he said. “They admitted me immediately, and took me to an isolation ward, as they thought it was very likely I had the virus. They did their own test, but the results did not come in until Tuesday morning.”

In the meantime, he said, no anti-viral medication has been authorized, so he was treated with an antibiotic, as though the pneumonia was bacterial. After the test came back positive Tuesday, he was given hydroxychloroquine.

“Let me tell you, Monday through Thursday was an absolute hell for me. It didn’t help that on Wednesday night the guy in the room next to mine passed away,” Cannizzaro said. “By Thursday, I was not any better, and my numbers were actually getting worse. It was very scary, my breathing was getting worse and worse. I truly thought I was going to die.”

And then, suddenly, hope.

On Thursday afternoon, Cannizzaro said he was given chloroquine, “and within a few hours, I started to feel better. I have been improving gradually each day, and now I’m really starting to feel like myself. I am still on oxygen, so the next step is to wean me off of that. The doctors are all really happy with my progress, though, and I am so relieved.”

Speaking with Patch Saturday, Cannizzaro said he’s truly “on the mend,” and expected to be discharged from the hospital within the next seven days.

Describing the Sunday when he went back to the ER, Cannizzaro said he could barely breathe.

“I was coughing nonstop,” he said. “I almost fainted. It was horrible. I went to triage, and I’ve been here in the hospital ever since.”

In the beginning, Cannizzaro said the aches and pains felt almost like a normal cold or flu.

“And then it got intense,” he said.

Even before the test results came back, Cannizzaro said he knew he had the new coronavirus. Looking back on the past week, he said, “Monday through Thursday, I went through hell. I really thought I was going to die.”

On Thursday, he said, “My numbers tanked.” His oxygen level dropped, he said. “I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t stop coughing. I thought, ‘I am one coughing fit from passing out. And I pass out, I might be done.’ I was totally out of it. I was resigned. I called my wife, Jenna, and said, ‘In case I don’t make it, I love you.'”

But then came the switch in meds to chloroquine and a Z-pack, he said.

“It was a miracle,” he said. “It saved my life.”

Suddenly, he said, “The doctor told me my numbers were great. My blood work was good. All of a sudden, it started to turn around, and I started feeling like myself.”

Thankfully, Cannizzaro said, he’s never needed a ventilator. And although he is still wearing an oxygen mask, Cannizzaro said he’s able to speak for long periods now without coughing.

He added that when he first went to the hospital and was admitted, it was at the beginning of the month. “The world was still normal,” he said. None of the nonessential business closures or social distancing mandates had yet been unveiled. “I’m very lucky I got in and got a room when I did. I don’t think anyone is going to have enough beds, that’s for sure.”

Cannizzaro said he believes the dire need will only continue to increase, with long lines at hospitals.

“Lines of people around the block, like they would be for a Sinatra ticket.”

Describing the fear and emotions that swirl while hospitalized with coronavirus, Cannizzaro’s voice is filled with both sadness and his trademark humor.

“You get no visitors. I haven’t seen my wife since triage.”

“And the food’s not that good,” he joked.

Kidding aside, he said, everyone who walks into his room “is dressed in what looks like a hazmat suit. Everything they wear or touch is thrown out in the garbage when they leave.”

Message about coronavirus

Watching television, with so many kids on spring break, Cannizzaro has a message: “If they want to switch places with me, they can. I want to tell them, ‘This is really serious disease, and you could be bringing it home to your parents and grandparents. I don’t know how, at this point, you couldn’t be taking it seriously.'”

Looking to Italy, where deaths have skyrocketed, Cannizzaro said the news is heartbreaking; he and his wife go to Italy every year. They were slated to travel to Italy to celebrate their wedding anniversary in May and see Rome. “Just three days ago, she said, ‘I guess we’re going to have to cancel.'”

While at first they thought about rebooking for October, Cannizzaro said he told his wife, “Let’s wait a year. There are going to be so many funerals. It’s really sad. We’re friends with a lot of people there; and while, thank God, they’re all fine, they’ve all lost loved ones.”

The silver lining of the new coronavirus, Cannizzaro said, has been the outpouring of love from the comedy world, including positive messages from comics Jim Gaffigan and Richie Byrne. “Jim Breuer put out a video, talking about me,” he said. Even his ex-wife, comedian Lisa Lampanelli, reached out in concern: “She said, ‘OK, you lazy —-, get out of bed,'” he laughed.

Speaking of his friend, Byrne said: “Jimmy is the kind of guy, when you walk into a room, you think, ‘Oh, good, Jimmy’s here.’ He can’t wait to give you a hug — and you can’t wait to hug him back.”

Cannizzaro felt so much better, he said, that he joined comedians Byrne and Mark Riccadonna online Monday night to describe his experience on Soul Joel Production’s “Drinks, Jokes & Storytelling” Facebook podcast.

Cannizzaro said he’s felt the love, too, from the owner of Gotham Comedy Club, Chris Mazzilli. “He calls me every day,” he said, adding that he loves his work at Gotham, where he’s been for 10 years, and the many he’s met there.

In the restaurant business for most of his life, Cannizzaro also remembers fondly the days when he owned the iconic Canos Swiss Tavern and had big-name music acts booked for crowds.

Long recovery ahead

Once he is released from the hospital, Cannizzarro said he has a “long recovery period” in store.

But for his family and friends, the day when he’s home can’t come soon enough.

His wife, Jenna Esposito-Cannizzaro, is an Italian singer, he said. She has been in a mandatory quarantine that ends Monday.

“This has been scary for her,” he said. “Especially when I called her and said, ‘I think I’m going to die today.’ That was scary. I didn’t even get the chance to say goodbye two Sundays ago, when I checked into triage. She was in the waiting room, and they brought me straight to my room.”

Esposito-Cannizzaro has posted on Facebook about her husband’s experience: “Thank you all for the continued prayers and good wishes. Jimmy is continuing to improve each day, so please keep them coming — they are definitely working. I can’t wait to have him back home again. Love you, hubby!”

For Cannizzaro’s close family — including his three older sisters and his mother, who just turned 91 — his diagnosis has meant days of fear. “It was horrible,” he said. “Especially for my mom. Last March, my dad passed away at 89 from cancer. They were married 67 years. We are a very close family. On March 19, my mother turned 91, and I called her and said, ‘I’m sorry I’m sick on your birthday.’ This has been tough for her. She knows what I have. And she watches the news, so that makes it extra scary.”

His own brush with the unknown lingers, Cannizzaro said. On Sunday, he heard of a friend, a guitar player who performed at his club that he’s known since the ’90s, who’d sent him a message just recently, saying “Jimmy, we’re pulling for you.” Since Cannizzaro got that message, his friend got the COVID-19 virus — and died Sunday morning, he said.