Rev Jesse Jackson Sr. And His Wife Both Test Positive For COVID-19

Source: Earl Gibson III / Getty

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. and his wife Jacqueline Jackson. The activist, 79, and Jacqueline, 77 have both been hospitalized after testing positive for COVID-19.

According to NBC Chicago, an announcement regarding Jackson’s condition was sent out by the reverend’s Rainbow PUSH Coalition, confirming that the couple was seeking treatment at Chicago’s Northwestern Memorial Hospital, however, the nonprofit did not offer any update about their conditions.

“Doctors are currently monitoring the condition of both,” read a statement by their son, Jonathan Jackson. “Anyone who has been around either of them for the last five or six days should follow the CDC guidelines,” he added.

Jackson was reportedly fully vaccinated, receiving his first dose of the Pfizer vaccine on January 8. The activist broadcasted himself receiving the lifesaving dose and urged the Black community to get vaccinated.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted existing disparities in our nation and specifically in the Black community resulting in a hospitalization rate 3.7 times greater and a death rate 2.8 times greater than that of the White community,” he said in a statement following his vaccination, EurWeb noted. “We need our strong leadership in our government to have the vaccines administered to people of color as soon as possible before the death rate rises to catastrophic proportions,” he continued.

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Shortly after his first dose, the civil rights leader was taken to Northwestern for “abdominal discomfort” and underwent gallbladder surgery. Jackson spent three weeks in recovery due to his Parkinson’s disease. The former protege of the reverend Dr. Martin Luther King has been seeking care “for more than five years” for the chronic neurological disorder, NBC Chicago added.