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Ice-Tis sharing a message of caution in light of asurge of COVID-19 casesacross the Unites States and the world.
The musician and actor, 63, revealed on Monday that he currently has several friends sick with the coronavirus, and two are hospitalized.
“FYI: I’ve got 5 friends fighting Covid right now… 2 in the hospital,” therapper wroteon Twitter. “I know it’s been a long run…… But it’s NOT gone. Stay safe people.”
Ice-T’s tweet comes as the pandemic has reached a new peak, due to the highly transmissible andrapidly spreading omicron variant.
As of last week, theCOVID-19 variantnow accounts for the majority of reported cases in the United States.
This represents a significant increase in the spread of omicron across the country. The week prior, omicron accounted for just 12 percent of cases in the U.S., the CDC reported.
Omicron makes up an even larger portion of COVID-19 cases in parts of the country including the New York region and the Pacific Northwest, where omicron accounted for more than 90 percent of cases earlier this month.
RELATED VIDEO: Ice-T Defends Coco Austin’s Decision to Continue Breastfeeding Their 5½-Year-Old Daughter Chanel
Last year, Ice-T revealed that another close contact was battling COVID-19 — his father-in-law Steve Austin, dad to his wifeCoco Austin.
TheLaw & Order: SVUstar said in aNov. 29, 2020 tweetthat his wife’s father was “on Oxygen indefinitely” after contracting the virus earlier that year.
“My father-in-law ‘Coco’s dad’ was a serious ‘No Masker’ COVID hit him,“he wroteat the time. “Pneumonia in both lungs.. 40 days in ICU close to death.. Now he’s on Oxygen indefinitely.”
Ice-T also shared a photo of his father-in-law wearing an oxygen mask, writing, “Ohhh he’s a Believer now.. #COVIDisNotAGame.”
The elder Austin had beenhospitalized in Arizonain June 2020, the rapper previously shared.
In July of that year, the actor — who shares 6-year-old daughterChanel Nicolewith Coco, 42 — said during an appearance onThe Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallonthat it took his father-in-law “a month to make it out of the hospital.”
“Now he’s home, but his lungs are damaged indefinitely,” he told hostJimmy Fallon.
As information about thecoronavirus pandemicrapidly changes, PEOPLE is committed to providing the most recent data in our coverage. Some of the information in this story may have changed after publication. For the latest on COVID-19, readers are encouraged to use online resources from theCDC,WHOandlocal public health departments.PEOPLE has partnered with GoFundMeto raise money for the COVID-19 Relief Fund, a GoFundMe.org fundraiser to support everything from frontline responders to families in need, as well as organizations helping communities. For more information or to donate, clickhere.
source: people.com
