News 4 Reporter
The Festus community held a prayer rally Sunday night outside Mercy Hospital in Jefferson County to support Fire Chief Kevin Cremer, 48, who is battling COVID in the ICU.
FESTUS (KMOV.com) — The Festus community held a prayer rally Sunday night outside Mercy Hospital in Jefferson County to support Fire Chief Kevin Cremer, 48, who is battling COVID in the ICU.
According to Assistant Chief Chuck Boyer, the chief tested positive and was admitted to the hospital Monday with difficulty breathing. He is intubated and battling COVID related pneumonia.
“Yesterday he was improving,” said Boyer.“ He knows we’re all behind him, he knows it’s a big family. I’m hoping he hears our prayers and gets better and I’m waiting for him to come back to the fire house,” said Captain Jeff Brown.
The department chaplain Kyle Castens led the prayer vigil and Cremer’s wife said a few words, thanking the crowd for their continued prayers.
Due to the COVID policies at the hospital, the family has not been able to go inside and see him.
The Festus Fire Department does not have a vaccine mandate, and no one was able to say whether or not the chief is vaccinated.
St. Louis area hospitals including Mercy are seeing record-breaking hospitalizations. On Sunday, the new daily total for confirmed COVID positive patients was 1,283. Of patients hospitalized with COVID-19, 69 percent are unvaccinated.
A GoFundMe page has been started to support the family while Chief Cremer battles the virus.
Copyright 2022 KMOV. All rights reserved.
News 4 Reporter
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