When Paul Gauger was told by a doctor at a New York hospital he needed to be put on a ventilator if he was to survive coronavirus, there was no time to contact his family in Adelaide.

Key points: Australian Paul Gauger lives in New York where more than 10,000 people have died from coronavirus

Australian Paul Gauger lives in New York where more than 10,000 people have died from coronavirus He contracted coronavirus and ended up in intensive care and on a ventilator

He contracted coronavirus and ended up in intensive care and on a ventilator Mr Gauger pulled through after being on a ventilator for four days

"It all happened very quickly, so I didn't really have time to panic," he told 7.30.

''But you realise, 'This could be it. Am I going to wake up?'

"I remember being wheeled down the corridor and lying there and thinking … of being alone in New York and family in Adelaide.

"It would have been good to say your goodbyes, tell people you love them, but I didn't have that luxury."

'A life or death decision'

New York authorities are carrying out mass burials of people who have died of coronavirus. ( Reuters: Lucas Jackson )

Mr Gauger is one of the lucky ones.

New York has become the epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States, with the death toll exceeding 10,000 in the city.

A recent American study suggested only one in two coronavirus patients who ended up on a ventilator survived.

"When I was told I was going on a ventilator, it's that moment where you think this a life or death decision, but I had to trust the doctors," Mr Gauger said.

"You're frightened.

"It's terrifying in one way, but the other way I'm thinking, this is what's going to help me, I've got to do it."

Mr Gauger, 54, has been living in New York for four years, working as a marketing executive for Britain's tourism agency. He previously worked for Tourism Australia.

He has Type 2 diabetes and last month he came down with what he thought was the flu.

"My first symptoms were a sore throat, which I didn't really think about too much at all, and then the next day I was feeling a little bit more off-colour," he said.

"You hear about the coronavirus and you think it must be really bad — I probably underestimated it in that first week.

"Then it progressed quite badly in that second week."

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'Waking up in pools of sweat'

Laura Speirs is now able to talk to Paul Gauger online. ( ABC News: Jerry Rickard )

In Sydney Laura Speirs, Mr Gauger's friend of 28 years, became increasingly concerned about his health.

"I started getting alarmed when he said he woke up and he was waking up in pools of sweat and just sleeping 22 hours a day," she said.

"Every day it just got worse and worse and worse."

After being ill for about 10 days, Mr Gauger was admitted to Lenox Hill Hospital on New York City's Upper East Side.

"It was difficult to breathe but it wasn't like I thought I couldn't breathe and I wasn't gasping for breath, but it was laboured," Mr Gauger said.

Days later he was sedated and put on a ventilator.

"They don't call it a coma but you are being put under, so I think that was when it was really scary to make that decision really quickly," he said.

"I had to give consent because it's quite a serious thing. So you're having to give consent to say, yes, you're willing to do this."

Mr Gauger pulled through after being on a ventilator for four days.

"When I woke up, which was a relief, it was funny, I thought, 'is it already over?'" Mr Gauger said.

"The health care providers for me are the new saints, the new superheroes who are so good."

Ms Speirs said the experience was traumatising for friends and family.

"We couldn't go to New York, we couldn't hold his hand, we couldn't be in the hospital with him and that was awful," Ms Speirs said.

"That was a heartbreaking thing, to think that he was alone and potentially was going to die alone.

"I just think he is the luckiest guy on the planet. We are really lucky.

"It really has put coronavirus into perspective for me."

50 per cent mortality rate for ventilator patients

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 1 minute 59 seconds 1 m 59 s Paul Gauger describes his recovery, saying he 'barely left the sofa'.

Anthony Holley, the president of the Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Society, said ventilation was a crucial treatment option, but overseas data pointed to mixed outcomes for patients.

"Intubation is a medical procedure whereby we render a patient asleep such that we can pass a hollow plastic tube into their windpipe or trachea that then allows for the connection of a ventilator or breathing machine, which facilitates the delivery of oxygen and air and at a pressure sufficient to inflate the patient's lungs," he told 7.30.

"What we know [from] a recent publication that was published out of Seattle in the New England Medical Journal, is that survival of patients on ventilators in critical care was about 50 per cent.

"It's tremendous that Paul did so well from his intensive care stay.

"I think it should stand as a beacon for patients that are admitted to intensive care that there is still a substantial chance that they're able to recover."

'You don't want to end up like me'

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 1 minute 22 seconds 1 m 22 s Paul Gauger performs breathing exercises after being discharged from hospital.

Mr Gauger, who believes he may have caught coronavirus at a supermarket, says he hopes his experience will help people better understand how dangerous the virus is.

"It's hard to believe this actually happened to me," he said.

"It was a horrific ordeal and it was terrifying at times and I really did wonder if I was going to make it.

"You don't want to end up like me, you do not want this virus.

"So please follow the rules, stay at home, do everything that they're telling you because it's simply not worth it."