An Alabama father of two has died after contracting the U.K. strain of Covid-19.
What We Know:
- 35-year-old Alfonzia Jackson Jr. started feeling sick around Christmas of last year. As his symptoms worsened, Jackson was sent to UAB Hospital in Birmingham, where he tested positive for the United Kingdom variant of COVID-19. He passed away on Tuesday, February 2nd.
- Before being diagnosed with the U.K. variant, Jackson had tested negative multiple times for COVID-19. According to the New York Post, it wasn’t until Jackson became severely ill and had difficulty breathing that he had been admitted to the hospital back in late January.
- On Jan. 27th, the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) identified three Alabama residents who tested positive for the new U.K. variant of COVID-19, one of those infected being Alfonzia Jackson. According to CBS, the strain has been found in at least 24 other states, totaling 293 cases across the country. For now, the CDC states that the current vaccines approved in the U.S., Pfizer, and Moderna, should be effective in treating the U.K. variant.
- The U.K. variant of COVID-19 is considered to be highly contagious. Medical experts fear that if people continue to get sick at increasingly high rates, vaccines will be less effective against the coronavirus’s newer mutating strains. Other variants have come to the U.S. from South Africa and Brazil.
- Jackson’s wife, Ashley, has set up a Gofundme to raise money for medical bills and living expenses. She has been forced to quarantine for 20 days and is unable to receive health insurance or family from her new job while supporting two children on her own. She urges people with symptoms who have tested negative for COVID to quarantine until they recover.
In a Facebook post, Ashley wrote, “I wouldn’t wish this on anyone as I said goodbye to my amazing husband.”
