There’s no voice louder in New Jersey when it comes to fighting for the end of gun violence than Salaam Ismial. He’s louder than them all, especially when he has a megaphone, marching down the street, fervent fellow activists in tow.
Today, though, Ismial is in the hospital with COVID-19, and he’s struggling to be heard.
“I just want people to know that this disease is aggressive,” he says through his mask from his hospital bed at Northwest Hospital in Maryland. “I encourage you all to get the vaccine. Don’t take this for granted.”
You see, Ismial didn’t get a COVID vaccine shot.
He says he wanted to wait and see what the efficacy data said. He had also heard that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine issue with blood clots might be a problem. His family has a history with clots and he didn’t want to exacerbate any current medical condition, his wife JoAnn said.
Ismial also took a pass on the vaccine because he thought a mask and social distancing would protect him, even though he was always around others at rallies and events and on doorsteps.
The incredibly smart 63-year-old, who splits his time between New Jersey and with his family in Maryland, is the director of National United Youth Council Inc. and chairman of NJ Anti-Violence Coalition. He’s been speaking out about gun violence for the last 18 years because he’s lost friends and family to violence.
Salaam Ismial, the founder and director of the National United Youth Council Inc., has COVID-19. He's urging everyone to get vaccinated. "This disease is aggressive." Photo by Steve Hockstein | For NJ Advance MediaSteve Hockstein | For NJ Advance
This recent spate of violence is particularly upsetting to him. His current battle is to get the word out about Assemblyman Jamel Holley’s Anti-Violence bill, which would establish Divisions of Violence Prevention and Intervention in every county in the state. Ismial, who served as co-chairman of the state’s 2015 Study Commission on Violence, says he actually introduced the idea to Holley, and in his words passage of the bill “would be historic.”
So, he’s on a mission. The vaccine, he thought, wasn’t critical. He was healthy. As he said from the hospital. “I don’t smoke, I don’t have any other health conditions.”
But the Delta variant doesn’t seem to care how smart or how healthy you are. It’s twice as transmissible as the original COVID-19 virus and its viral load can be up to 1,000 times greater than the original. Even those who have been vaccinated can contract the virus and spread it.
And it appears that the Delta variant can make those who are unvaccinated even sicker than the original COVID-19 virus.
When Ismial first contracted the virus, he rested at home, on the couch, hoping he would feel better. But he soon learned that home rest wasn’t enough and had to be taken to the hospital, where he speaks now in broken sentences, trying to get enough air in his lungs to communicate his thoughts. An IV drip slowly empties into a vein in his arm.
He’s getting the same cocktail of drugs that President Trump had, so he and his wife feel the prognosis is good. They hope he’ll be in rehab soon, and then back home.
But for now, he has a message: It’s important to know how bad this virus is, including young people who “may think that they’re invincible.”
“I just want people to know that they need to get this vaccine now.”
Robin Wilson-Glover is the director of digital opinion at NJ.com/The Star-Ledger. You can reach her at rglover@njadvancemedia.com and follow her on Twitter at @RobinGlover.
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