William Ball (left), 51, is hospitalized with COVID-19 after choosing not to get vaccinated. His wife Alicia (right) is asking for members of her community to get the shots to avoid the same happening to them
A Mississippi woman is pleading with Americans to get vaccinated as her husband remains hospitalized following a battle with COVID-19.
William Thomas Ball, 52, had a heart attack in June, then contracted the virus only nine days later, according to a CBS News.
He has remained hospitalized in St Dominic-Jackson Memorial Hospital in Jackson, Mississippi, ever since.
His wife, Alicia, told CBS News that he is unvaccinated, and is hoping others get the shots when they have a chance to other families do not go through the same that hers did.
Mississippi has the lowest vaccination rate in the country, as cases begin to rise in the state due to the Indian ‘Delta’ variant.
‘We didn’t [think the virus was serious] either, at first,’ Alicia told CBS News. ‘I’m not gonna lie. We had no idea.’
She said that she chose to get vaccinated, but her husband did not.
Both ended up contracting COVID-19, though she recovered quite easily.
Her unvaccinated husband is in ‘extremely bad’ condition she says.
‘He can’t even get up,’ she told CBS News.
Ball is among the 60 percent of Mississippians who have not gotten vaccinated against COVID-19, the most of any state
Alicia detailed her husband’s COVID-19 battle in a Facebook post on July 16.
‘My family is in need of prayers and healing,’ she wrote.
‘My sweet husband is in day 8 in the hospital and will be there for a while probably rest of the month, with double pneumonia and covid lung.’
She also mentions her own battle with COVID in the post, and that while she has recovered, she is still feeling tired from it.
The hospital is currently dealing with a surge in COVID-19 cases.
Right now, 59 people are hospitalized with the virus at St Dominic-Jackson.
Since March, 300 patients have been hospitalized due to COVID, and only nine were vaccinated.
Mississippi is the only state in the nation where less than 40 percent of residents have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Less than 35 percent of residents are fully vaccinated.
‘We have really tried to, after this, talk to as many of our friends and family as possible that they should get it. I never really realized how bad it would be – how bad this Delta variant would be,’ Alicia told CNN on Wednesday.
‘I’m exhausted. I haven’t slept. I’m really worried.’
On July 17, while her husband was already hospitalized, she shared a popular anti-vaxx meme on her Facebook page.
‘If giving free shots is for the health of the nation… why aren’t they giving away free insulin and chemo?’ said the meme.
She has since changed her tune, now asking for others in her community to get the shots to protect themselves from the situation her husband is in.
While the vaccination rate is still nowhere near where it was at its peak in late March where over 20,000 doses were being administered every day, more Mississippians are coming to get vaccinated.
Vaccine demand has tripled since the end of June, from around 2,000 shots per day to around 6,000 in the latter days of July.
The state is still a long-way from herd immunity, though and is currently in the midst of a summer COVID surge fueled by the highly contagious Delta variant.
Cases in the state have more than tripled in the past two weeks, from 381 average cases per day on July 13 to 1,197 on July 27, a 214 percent increase.
The Delta variant accounts for around 90 percent of active cases in the state.
Cases in Mississippi have tripled over the past two weeks as the Delta variant hammers the statefrom 381 average cases per day on July 13 to 1,197 on July 27
Source link : https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-9836789/Mississippi-woman-pleads-vaccinated-husband-hospitalized.html
