Grace Fusco, 73, (Center in white dress) died on Wednesday of Covid-19 after her eldest son and daughter died from the disease. On Thursday, her son Vincent Fusco died. (PIcture: Facebook)

A family who saw seven close relatives diagnosed with coronavirus after they met up for dinner has just lost their fourth loved-one to Covid-19.

Vincent Fusco, 53, died Thursday at CentraState Medical Center in Freehold, New Jersey, making him the fourth member of his family to succumb to the disease within a week, according to Roseann Paradiso Fodera, a cousin and the lawyer representing the family.

His death comes just one day after his mother, 73-year-old Grace Fusco, died at the same hospital. His brother, Carmine Fusco, died early Wednesday morning at St Luke’s University Hospital-Bethlehem Campus in Pennsylvania.

The first member of the family to die from Covid-19, the disease caused by coronavirus, was Vincent’s sister, Rita-Fusco Jackson, who died last Friday and later tested positive for the disease. She was the second person in the state of New Jersey to die from the disease.




The Fusco family’s infections appeared to have stemmed from a big family dinner on March 3, Fodera said. Vincent Fusco later believed he had the flu and was admitted to the hospital on March 9.

“The second weÂ start to grieve about one theÂ phone rings and there’s anotherÂ person gone.”@ChrisCuomo speaks with members of a New Jersey family who lost four relatives and have nearly 20 other relatives in quarantine because of the coronavirus. “We’re just beggingÂ for help.” pic.twitter.com/Va8TpbvBMH — Cuomo Prime Time (@CuomoPrimeTime) March 20, 2020

Rita Fusco-Fackson, 55, became the second person in New Jersey to die from the novel coronavirus on Friday. (Picture: Facebook)

Carmine Fusco succumbed to Covid-19 on Wednesday. (Picture: Facebook)

Grace and her children Carmine, Rita, Antonia,55, Joseph, 49, and Maria, 43, were all admitted to the hospital with the same symptoms the next day. Approximately 20 members of the family underwent testing and four were later in critical condition, although it is unclear if Vincent was one of those four cases.

On March 10, the family learned that John Brennan, a 69-year-old business associate of Carmine and Vincent, died of coronavirus in a different New Jersey hospital, prompting the family to tell doctors to test their hospitalized relatives. Brennan was the first person to die of Coronavirus in New Jersey.

Authorities believe the Fusco family’s infections were connected to 69-year-old John Brennan, who was the first person in New Jersey to die of coronavirus. (Picture: USTA)

It is unclear why the family was so badly affected by the disease because ‘no one had an underlying medical condition,’ Paradiso Fodera told People

‘No one ever expected a family of 11 children to be decimated like this. We have a long way to go.’

New Jersey reportedly has more than 740 confirmed coronavirus cases and nine deaths.