Sister identifies man from Northampton County as first Pennsylvania coronavirus death; mother, sister also succumbed

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When Gov. Tom Wolf told the public Wednesday night that a Northampton County man was Pennsylvania’s first recorded coronavirus death, the Fusco family was already well into the grieving process.

Carmine Fusco, 55, died Wednesday afternoon at St. Luke’s University Hospital in Fountain Hill, five days after his sister Rita Fusco-Jackson, also in her 50s, died from the virus in New Jersey and shortly before his mother, Grace Fusco of Freehold, succumbed to the same illness. Grace Fusco’s death was reported by The New York Times and other outlets Wednesday night.

Four other family members are also ill, with several in critical condition.

“To everybody, this is a virus. To us, it’s a person," said Andriana Fusco, sister to Carmine and Rita and Grace’s daughter, speaking to The Morning Call before learning of her mother’s death. "It’s our family.”

While the majority of his family lived in New Jersey, Carmine Fusco lived for the last seven or eight years in Pennsylvania, where he trained harness racing horses in Wind Gap.

Andriana Fusco doesn’t know how her brother contracted the virus. But she said it wasn’t from a family gathering in New Jersey, as some news outlets have reported.

“There was no party, there was no people in from Italy,” she said. “Me, myself, I have not seen my brother since February, and the last time he was even in New Jersey was March 3. I don’t want any false things being said about my brother."

While the Fusco family’s sorrow is palpable, Carmine Fusco’s death was a sobering moment for Pennsylvania as well. Speaking from his home in York, the governor delivered the news without identifying Fusco, saying: “I come to you with a heavy heart. Earlier today, the Department of Health confirmed that a person in Northampton County passed away from COVID-19. This is the first death from the novel coronavirus in Pennsylvania.”

The Health Department said the patient had been hospitalized. And St. Luke’s said a patient who tested positive was first admitted to its Anderson campus last Thursday. At the time, the Health Department said that person contracted the virus through out-of-state travel.

According to published reports, Rita Fusco-Jackson’s death was connected to the death of John Brennan, a horse trainer who lived in New Jersey and was that state’s first resident to die from the virus.

The Fusco family has a strong connection to harness racing. Carmine Fusco was involved since he was a teenager working for his father, a harness horse driver and trainer from Freehold, New Jersey, whose 2017 obituary noted that he raced horses there as well as in Pennsylvania, New York and Massachusetts.

Carmine Fusco was a partner in Wingate Farm, a standardbred training facility in Bushkill Township, according to Dan Markowitz, an owner of the facility. Fusco had about 20 horses there, he said, training them for races at tracks such as Mohegan Sun Pocono and Yonkers Raceway.

“Everybody in the business knew him, that’s for sure,” Markowitz said, adding that Fusco was a hard worker who was very involved with his family.

“This thing is terrible,” Markowitz said. “It’s unbelievable — this virus.”

As of Wednesday, there were 133 positive coronavirus cases in Pennsylvania. In addition, 1,187 people who have taken tests were found not to have the virus, which has killed more than 7,400 people across the world. One case, reported Saturday, is in Lehigh County. Montgomery County leads the state with 42, and while no deaths have been reported there, two children — a 1-year-old and a 2-year-old — have tested positive.

State officials have told Pennsylvanians to expect a surge in cases over the next few weeks.

“Today’s is just the first death of what will become many, and our only hope is to keep our hospitals from being overwhelmed so our medical professionals can do the most they can," Wolf said.

As a grim reality takes hold of the country, with schools and businesses shutting down and streets appearing lifeless, the Fusco family is living their own horror.

Andriana Fusco called Carmine and Rita “the most wonderful brother and sister that anybody can have." She said Carmine was a successful businessman who was married with no children. To his 27 nieces and nephews, he was known as “Shrek,” a beloved uncle who could make them laugh. Rita, who taught religion classes in Freehold, was married with three children. Both, Andriana Fusco said, “were amazing.”

“They were good people,” she said. “I don’t know why this is happening. They didn’t deserve this, they’re too young.”