35-year-old dad with COVID variant dies in Alabama, wife says. ‘Until we meet again’

When Alfonzia Jackson Jr. wasn’t doting on his daughters — dancing with them, doing their nails — he was working hard to provide for them, says Ashley Jackson, his wife of nearly eight years.

He had been careful, too, since the pandemic, keeping his eyes on what mattered most and minimizing risks of exposure, Jackson told WBRC. Still, the 35-year-old began suffering shortness of breath in January and was hospitalized late in the month. Initial COVID tests were negative for the virus.

“My husband just went to work and home. Gas station here and there. Not nothing like going out and having a good time, just a hard-working man,” Jackson told WBRC.

It’s not clear where or how he was exposed, but Alfonzia Jackson was one of the first people in Alabama to contract a new, more contagious COVID-19 strain, the U.K. variant, outlets report.

In a Gofundme page Jackson created less than a week ago to finance Alfonzia’s medical expenses, she documents his rapid decline.

After being admitted to the hospital on Jan. 22, his heart started to fail, his kidneys were damaged, and he had surgery.

He was put on machines that do the work of the heart and the lungs for him.

More COVID testing was done and Jackson learned her husband was infected with the U.K. variant.

“My husband, we were talking about everything getting better, and to see him go from that to being on a breathing machine is hard,” Ashley Jackson told AL.com on Jan. 31. “I have to keep strong for my girls, so when I get overly emotional I have to go to the garage to cry and scream.”

Tuesday, Alfonzia Jackson died, she shared on social media.

“Our girls are going to truly miss you, you were an amazing dad and I will keep your memory alive through them and they will always remember you,” Jackson wrote in a Facebook post, along with a three-minute tribute video to Alfonzia. “You are now our guardian Angel and you are at peace, rest on my amazing husband until we meet again.”

The U.K. variant, named for the country where it was first detected, is one of three new strains of the coronavirus spreading in the U.S., McClatchy News reported.

It is able to spread more quickly than the current dominant COVID strain, and may also “be associated with an increased risk of death … but more studies are needed to confirm this finding,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

As of Tuesday, there were 541 confirmed cases of the U.K. variant in 33 states across the country.