The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Cobb teacher in hospital with virus
Middle school instructor won’t be home for Christmas.
A second teacher in the Cobb County School District will spend the holidays in the hospital with COVID- 19.
Jacob Furse, a chorus and drama teacher at Garrett Middle School in Austell, has been hospitalized for a week in Wellstar Kennestone Hospital’s unit reserved for patients with coronavirus, according to his wife, Molly Furse. She said doctors have told her that her husband won’t be home for Christmas.
Furse is the second known Cobb teacher who has been hospitalized after testing positive for the virus. Patrick Key, a Hendricks Elementary School teacher, was admitted last month to Wellstar Kennestone’s intensive care unit after he began struggling to breathe.
Molly Fur set old The Atlanta Journal- Constitution Tuesday they are not sure where her husband contracted the virus. He is receiving oxygen, but doctors hope to gradually lower the amount of oxygen he is given, she said.
“That’s the plan from here —to see if he can handle taking it down a liter or two every day until he’s at the lowest setting,” she said.
Furse said she and her husband started feeling sick a few days before his 30 th birthday on Dec .7. They both felt like they had sinus infections and were initially treated with antibiotics and steroids. Furse said her husband, who suffers from asthma, took a COVID- 19 test, but it came back negative. After he began feeling worse, he went to the doctor for another test.
While he waited for those results, Jacob Furse’s condition worsened, his wife said. His fever spiked to around 104 degrees and his blood oxygen levels dropped to the point that “it was getting harder for him to breathe,” she said. He went to the hospital, where doctors confirmed he had COVID- 1 9 after a chest X- ray showed pneumonia in his lungs, but doctors felt his condition was stable enough for him to go home.
Furse’s breathing didn’t improve and on Wednesday, Dec. 16, he went back to Ken ne stone Hospital where he was admitted. Molly Furse also tested positive for COVID- 19, as did her mother- in- law and brotherin- law. The Furses’ son, a toddler, received a COVID19 test Tuesday and those results are pending, Molly Furse said.
The Furse s aren’ tf acing this battle alone. A family friend has setup a Gofundme account to help with medical expenses insurance won’t cover. The fundraiser hopes to bring in $ 25,000 for the family.
“We are extremely grateful,” she said. “You don’t know how many people you have in your corner until they show up like this.”
Doctors hope to discharge her husband by New Year’s Day, she said.
Due to the surge in COVID19 cases in Cobb County, the school district last week ended the fall semester with remote learning for all students. Molly Furse said she hopes the school district will keep classrooms closed for “as long as necessary.”
Because school districts are facing pressure from some parents to keep in- person learning an option for their children, Molly Furse said she hopes teachers will get the COVID- 19 vaccine soon. “I think it’s very important for them to be at the top of the list like other essential workers,” she said.