The Minnesota Timberwolves player announces he tested positive for coronavirus just before Friday night (January 15) game, months after his mother died of complications from the virus.
- Jan 16, 2021
AceShowbiz - Karl-Anthony Towns has received yet other bad news related to COVID-19. The NBA star has tested positive for coronavirus, months after he lost his mother to complications from the novel virus.
The center/power forward broke the news on Friday, January 15, ahead of his team Minnesota Timberwolves' game later in the night. He released a statement on his Instagram account which read, "Prior to tonight's game, I received yet another awful call that I tested positive for COVID."
"I will immediately isolate and follow every protocol," he informed his followers. "I pray every day that this nightmare of a virus will subside and I beg everyone to continue to take it seriously by taking all the necessary precautions."
Stressing the need of collective effort to stop the spread of the virus, the 25-year-old added, "We cannot stop the spread of this virus alone, it must be a group effort by all of us."
Karl-Anthony went on sharing his agony over his COVID-19 diagnosis that caused so much concerns to his family, especially after his mother's passing. "It breaks my heart that my family, and particularly my father and sister continue to suffer from the anxiety that comes along with this diagnosis as we know all too well what the end result could be," he wrote.
He assured that he will recover though, saying as he concluded his message, "To my niece and nephew, Jolanix and Max, I promise you I will not end up in a box next to grandma and I will beat this."
In the wake of Karl-Anthony's COVID-19 diagnosis, the NBA postponed Timberwolves' game for Friday against the Memphis Grizzlies because Minnesota did not have at least eight healthy players available due to contact tracing.
Karl-Anthony's mother Jacqueline Cruz died on April 13, less than a month after he revealed that both of his parents contracted the virus. His father Karl. Sr. has since recovered from the virus. Karl-Anthony said in early December that he lost six other family members from COVID-19.
"I've seen a lot of coffins in the last seven months," the NBA star said at the time. "I have lot of people who I have in my family - my mom's family - that have gotten COVID and are still looking for answers and trying to find how to keep them healthy. It's a lot of responsibility on me to keep my family well informed and to make all the moves necessary to keep them alive."