Former MS Coast councilman declined the vaccine. His family lost him to COVID-19.
Before an unvaccinated former Pascagoula city councilman died Sunday of COVID-19, vaccinated family members shared a video of his wife urging people to protect themselves against the virus.
Joe Abston, who was finance manager at the Jackson County Port Authority, was moved to the intensive care unt of Singing River Hospital on Thursday.
He was on a ventilator and 100% oxygen when his wife, Missy, made a video about his condition Friday that was produced by the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce.
Missy Abston and their two daughters had been vaccinated and her husband told her how sorry he was that he did not join them, but he thought he was healthy, said Sarah Duffey, media relations director for Singing River Health System.
Missy Abston and one of her daughters also contracted COVID but recovered without major issues.
“The real tragedy here as that Joe was the real protector type, strong and ‘I take care of my girls,’ and now he can never protect them again,” said Paige Roberts, CEO of the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce.
Abston died as Mississippi sets records for new cases in the fourth wave of COVID-19 spread of the highly contagious delta variant.
New cases in Harrison and Jackson counties, where vaccination rates are lower than the state average, posted Monday rival statewide totals for new cases in the spring before the delta variant took hold.
COVID pneumonia kills previously healthy father
“This wave is definitely different and stronger,” Missy Abston said in the video. She and her daughters got vaccines during a spring drive-through vaccination campaign because they are at high risk for serious illness from the virus, she said.
“He took us to get it,” Missy Abston said. “I don’t know that he ever saw anybody get sick enough or saw that it was real or saw that a healthy person could get sick. We’ve never, ever been apart and I don’t know if I’ll ever talk to him again.
“If you’re healthy, it doesn’t matter: Go get your shots. It’s not going to keep you from getting it, but it might keep you from being in this situation.”
She said her husband contracted COVID-related pnuemonia.
Daughter Maggie Abston posted the video on Facebook , too, saying: “It doesn’t matter how healthy you are or think you are, Covid in all forms do(es) not care.
“It is brutal and it’s scary to be in this situation. So, please get your shots and wear your masks.”
#DoItforJoe vaccine event
As he lay in the hospital before he was put on a ventilator, Abston was texting everyone he could think of to urge that they get vaccinated, Roberts said. After his death, Missy Abston worked with Singing River and the chamber to organize a vaccine event in her husband’s honor.
The vaccine drive will be held from 5 p.m.-7p.m., Thursday, at Pascagoula High School, Performing Arts Center parking lot, 2104 Tucker Ave.
This story was originally published August 16, 2021 at 11:44 AM.
