Karl-Anthony Towns’ mother passes away from COVID-19

The mother of Minnesota Timberwolves‘ star Karl-Anthony Towns has passed away from complications related to COVID-19.

The Timberwolves released a statement today, announcing the passing of Jacqueline Towns, the mother of star center Karl-Anthony Towns. She had been hospitalized with symptoms related to COVID-19 since late last month.

We’ll all be keeping the Towns family and the frontline medical workers who worked so hard to care for her in our thoughts.

On March 25, Towns made an emotional announcement on social media channels, sharing the turmoil his family had been working through for the past few weeks. He bravely told the world that both of his parents had been infected and that while his father had recovered enough to leave the hospital, his mother remained in the ICU in critical condition.

At that time, the national attitude towards the pandemic was very different and Towns expressed a desire to use his story to help other people recognize the importance of their actions.

“I made this video to make people understand the severity of this disease, practice social distancing, please don’t be in places with a lot of people. It just highers your chances of getting this disease, and this disease is deadly.”

The NBA was one of the first professional sports leagues to be touched by the novel coronavirus outbreak, with Rudy Gobert’s positive test leading to the suspension of the season. Nearly a dozen NBA players eventually tested positive but, to this point, all have recovered or progressed without serious symptoms.

To date, there are more than 550,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the United States, with over 21,000 deaths. The state of Minnesota has seen over 1,600 confirmed cases and efforts to “flatten the curve” are continuing.

For more information about COVID-19, visit the CDC’s website or the website for your state’s Department of Health.