An elderly New Jersey woman and two of her adult children have died from the coronavirus while four other relatives in the family have been diagnosed with the COVID-19 virus.
Grace Fusco, 73, a mother of 11 from Freehold, died on Wednesday, her cousin and family lawyer Paradiso Fodera told the New York Times. Fusco’s death came shortly after her eldest child Rita Fusco-Jackson, 55, and her eldest son Carmine Fusco passed away from the virus as well. The matriarch, who left behind 27 grandchildren, died unaware of the loss of two of her children.
Four of her other children have also contracted the coronavirus and remain hospitalized, with three of them in critical condition.
“If they’re not on a respirator, they’re quarantined,” Fodera said. “It is so pitiful. They can’t even mourn the way you would.”
The family was exposed to the virus when a person who had contact with the victim of the state’s first coronavirus-related fatality attended a Fusco family gathering, the state’s health commissioner said.
As of Thursday morning, nearly 10,000 coronavirus cases had been confirmed in the United States, which has resulted in approximately 150 deaths. More than 100 U.S. citizens have recovered from the virus, according to Johns Hopkins University.
