Dallas pastor who is recovering from COVID-19 hoping people continue to stay in
DALLAS - A Dallas pastor who is recovering from his own battle with COVID-19 said he is worried that many people might get sick if they start to venture out as restrictions are eased.
“It’s just amazing that I’m here talking to you guys because I really thought I was living in my last days,” Bishop Eli Jacobs said.
Jacobs said that during his five-week battle with the coronavirus, he was sicker that he had ever been.
His first symptom was a rash on his hands.
“Difficulty breathing, wake up bed full of sweat. I stayed in the hospital over two weeks, two different hospitals,” he recalled.
Jacobs, who is pastor of Resurrection Body of Christ Church, said that not only was he fighting the physical effects of the virus, but also the emotional isolation.
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“And once you're there in that hospital, it’s just you, and you're hoping every 30 minutes, 15 minutes, you're hoping somebody just walk in that room,” Jacobs said.
What he doesn't want to see is people pouring out of their shelter-in-place, with the governor's order expiring Thursday, and restaurants, retail stores, malls, and movie theaters opening Friday.
“People want to do what they want to do, but it’s not worth your life. When you’re there on that bed and they don’t let nobody visit you, It’s just you and God, it makes you think differently, see things differently,” Jacobs said. “I'm grateful, merciful to be able to be alive.”
Both he and his wife came down with COVID-19, and her experience was not quite as bad as his.
Jacobs is at home now and staying in, away from his children until he has two negative tests and is sure he is no longer contagious.