The tragedy of one family’s coronavirus battle

NJ.com reported that the 55-year-old Freehold woman who died of COVID-19 on Friday has six family members all of whom have the illness. Rita Fusco-Jackson’s sister Elizabeth says five of the six are all in New Jersey at CentraState Medical Center. One is in a hospital in Pennsylvania. Most of the six are in critical condition.

Update: In the time since this article was written, two more members of the family have died.

It’s unthinkable what this family is going through. Bad enough you have to plan a funeral for someone so relatively young, but a funeral half a dozen other family members are too sick to attend.

It goes to show this is a virus that doesn’t care. It doesn’t care if you’re already grieving. It doesn’t care if you are older or younger, doesn’t care if you’re rich or poor, famous or not famous.

It doesn’t care if you’re college educated or a drop out, rich or poor.

It doesn’t care if you’re a Republican or a Democratic.

You know what else it doesn’t care about?

It doesn’t care a whit whether you believe this is “fake news” or “media hype” or “just like flu.” Please stop being irresponsible and start taking it seriously. There’s a family in Freehold that would appreciate it.

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