Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson hospitalized with COVID-19

The Rev. Jesse Jackson and his wife have both been hospitalized with COVID-19, according to a statement from the civil rights leader’s Chicago-based nonprofit organization. 

The Rainbow PUSH Coalition said in a statement that Jackson, who previously received the COVID-19 vaccine, was being treated at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, along with his 77-year-old wife, Jacqueline Jackson. 

“Doctors are currently monitoring the condition of both,” the statement said of Jesse Jackson, 79, and his wife, 77, according to The Associated Press. 

While the organization did not provide any additional details on the couple’s conditions, it urged anyone who has had close contact with either of them within the past five or six days to follow guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 

The CDC says unvaccinated individuals who have come into contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19 should quarantine for 14 days but can end their quarantine if they have no symptoms and test negative after the seventh day. 

Fully vaccinated individuals who have come into contact with an infected person are advised to wait three to five days before taking a COVID-19 test and do not need to quarantine following exposure. 

The AP said that the organization noted there were “no further updates at this time” but that more details would be provided “as they become available.”

The Hill has reached out to the coalition for additional information. 

Jesse Jackson, an apprentice of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and a central leader of the modern civil rights movement, received his first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in January in a publicized event to help promote vaccinations among Black and other minority communities. 

“I was honored to receive my first dose, and I strongly urge others to join me,” he said in a statement at the time. 

Jackson announced in 2017 that he has Parkinson’s disease, a chronic neurological disorder that causes movement and mobility challenges. 

According to Chicago NBC affiliate WMAQ, the civil rights leader was admitted to Northwestern’s hospital in January for “abdominal discomfort” and underwent gallbladder surgery.