Jesse Jackson moves to rehab following COVID-19 diagnosis, wife in ICU

Famed civil rights activist the Rev. Jesse Jackson has been transferred to a rehabilitation hospital following his COVID-19 diagnosis, while his wife Jacqueline has been moved to intensive care, the couple’s son said Friday.

In a statement released to the civl rights icon’s Instagram on Friday, Jonathan Jackson said his father’s symptoms have been subsiding, which has put his Parkinson’s “more in focus.”

Jesse Jackson, 79, revealed that he had Parkinson’s in 2017, a neurological disorder that progressively causes mobility and movement challenges.

Jesse Jackson has been transferred to the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in Chicago where “he will immediately begin intensive occupational and physical therapy,” Jonathan Jackson said.

Jonathan Jackson further said that his mother, 77-year-old Jacqueline Jackson, remains at Northwestern Memorial Hospital but has been moved into the intensive care unit.

Jacqueline Jackson is not on a ventilator, but is “receiving increased oxygen and is breathing on her own,” her son said.

“Both of our parents are continuing to receive excellent medical care,” Jonathan Jackson said. “We urge that you continue to keep them in your prayers because we know that this is a serious disease.”

The Rainbow PUSH Coalition, Jesse Jackson’s Chicago-based nonprofit organization, first announced late last week that the couple tested positive for COVID-19 and was being treated at Northwestern.

Jonathan Jackson said in a statement Thursday that his parents continued to receive “excellent ongoing medical care.”

Jesse Jackson, a famed figure of the modern civil rights movement, publicly received his first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in January.