LSU's Former QB Jamie Howard and His Son Walker Test Positive for Coronavirus

Former LSU quarterback Jamie Howard, who finished his career as the third-leading passer in LSU history with 6,158 yards, recently revealed that he has tested positive for the coronavirus. His son Walker, a highly-recruited player out of St. Thomas More, also tested positive. Although only Howard displayed symptoms.

"I think everyone needs to know this is a very serious thing," Howard said, per The Advocate. "When it's all said and done, I think a lot of us, maybe half of us, are going to be exposed to it at some point. I think we're all just reacting differently to it. You don't want people scared to see you or anything, but people need to know how serious this is. This is like the flu on steroids. Then you add the respiratory issue with it; it's no joke at all."

Howard is recovering, but the road back to full health was not easy. He began displaying symptoms on Saturday, March 21 and then experienced nearly all of the known symptoms. He had a fever and a dry cough with a "weird feeling" in his lungs. Howard also lost his senses of taste and smell.

Howard was able to get out of bed on "Tuesday or Wednesday" and go get tested at the Cajundome. According to The Advocate, he is still awaiting the results of that particular test. Walker tested positive on Tuesday, but he is not displaying symptoms. "He's fine," Howard said.

The former QB began experiencing shortness of breath on Saturday, March 28, so he went to Lourdes Regional Medical Center and was tested for a second time. This test came back positive.

"On a scale when you look at a lot of friends who have it or had it, mine is probably a little worse because of the respiratory side of it, because I ended up developing pneumonia," Howard said. "I had a substantial amount of fluid on my lungs from it. If you have any issues or your immune system is down, this is definitely a very scary situation."

As the former LSU QB explained, he was among the doubters of the coronavirus during the early stages of the pandemic. He felt that the reactions were a little overblown and that it was not as big of a deal. However, his opinion changed after dealing with his symptoms.

"I honestly thought this was overblown," Howard said. "I thought it was terrible. I thought we were shutting down the country for no reason. I definitely learned the hard way that this is very serious. I admit I was one of the ones thinking this was way overblown."

(Photo Credit: Getty)