(TriceEdneyWire.com) – The Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., 79, still hospitalized with COVID in Chicago’s Northwestern Memorial Hospital, this week, is asking for prayer for him and his wife, Jacqueline, 77, who is also infected with the virus.
“Keep me in your prayers,” Rev. Jackson said in a brief telephone interview with the Trice Edney News Wire Monday. “I’ve taken two shots so mine is not as severe as it would have been. My wife is in pretty serious condition,” he said.
Trice Edney anonymous sources said Rev. Jackson, who was publicly vaccinated in January, appears to be doing quite well while Mrs. Jackson was on a ventilator to assist her breathing. He said he has no idea how they got infected with the disease.
Medical experts have said people are still able to get the virus after being vaccinated. However the vaccine usually prevents severe sickness and hospitalization.
“They’re both doing better. They’re getting amazing treatment from the Northwestern medical team,” said Shelley Davis a staff member who travels with the civil rights leader. “Rev. Jackson has been vaccinated. Mrs. J has not been vaccinated due to underlying pre-conditions and she was kind of skeptical about it.”
Davis said, “They’re both resting comfortably, they’re communicative, they’re able to talk, they’re able to communicate with their kids, they’re able to eat and they’re getting fluids down. So, they’re getting better.”
The Rainbow/PUSH headquarters on East 50th Street in Chicago has been temporarily closed for thorough cleaning according to another source with inside knowledge. Davis and other members of Jackson’s travel team tested negatively for COVID but will be tested again.
For several years, Jackson, the best-known civil rights leader alive, has also been in treatment for Parkinson’s disease, which he inherited from his father. As for the COVID diagnosis, it appears to have slowed him down only briefly. Says, Davis, “He is up and actively working on the phone.”