Jack Allard is very much alive. But for a brief moment, an ABC7 New York anchor declared him dead from the novel coronavirus on live television.

Allard, a 26-year-old former All-American lacrosse player, was released from the hospital last Thursday after a monthlong battle with COVID-19. His high school lacrosse team shared a video on Twitter of Allard walking out of the University of Pennsylvania hospital on his own free will.

Anchor Bill Ritter paid homage to Allard but missed an important detail in his tribute.

“After spending time on a ventilator and five full weeks in the hospital, the governor today announcing that Jack has died,” Ritter said.

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Following Ritter's statement, a video clip of Gov. Phil Murphy played.

“It was a long month, but slowly Jack rebounded and last Thursday he was clapped out by the doctors and nurses who saved his life as he walked out of the hospital,” Gov. Murphy said in the sound bite.

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Ritter immediately apologized afterward and said he misread his script.

"I feel horrible. Jack is very much alive. Jack, we love you," Ritter said. "Jack is alive and back home. He has come home, not in the figurative sense but in the quite literal sense. And my deepest apologies for that."

Jai-Leen James is a digital producer at the Asbury Park Press. She can be reached at jtjames@gannett.com or on Twitter @j_james17.