Although vaccinated, Reverend Jesse Jackson, 79, a pastor and iconic civil rights activist in the United States, was hospitalized after testing positive for Covid-19, his representatives announced on Saturday.
His wife Jacqueline Jackson, 77, is also affected.
They are treated at Northwestern Hospital in Chicago, said the organization "Rainbow PUSH Coalition" chaired by the reverend in a statement posted on Facebook.
Both @RevJJackson, Sr. & @ MrsJacquelineL3 are in the hospital after having tested positive for COVID-19.
We are grateful for all of your prayers and get well-wishes.
pic.twitter.com/WrMyFAMPzJ
- RainbowPUSHCoalition (@RPCoalition) August 22, 2021
“Doctors are currently monitoring their health.
Anyone who has been in contact with either in the past five or six days should follow "guidelines from the government's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention," the organization adds.
Decorated in July with the Legion of Honor
Companion of Martin Luther King in the 1960s, a talented orator, this Baptist pastor born October 8, 1941 in an America still marked by segregation, ran for the Democratic primary for the American presidential election twice in the 1980s, remaining a long time the most famous black personality to have tried the race for the White House… until Barack Obama.
He was vaccinated against the coronavirus last January, and then urged reluctant African Americans to get vaccinated.
The announcement of his hospitalization comes as the United States, the country most bereaved by Covid-19 with more than 620,000 deaths, is experiencing a new outbreak of contamination caused by the Delta variant.
Jesse Jackson announced in 2017 to suffer from Parkinson's disease.
Last July, he received from the hands of French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris the insignia of Commander of the Legion of Honor.