Forty-eight of the 546 players tested were positive for the coronavirus during screenings completed between Nov. 24-30, the NBA and National Basketball Players Association announced Wednesday. Those results came from the initial round of tests administered to players returning to their teams’ markets ahead of the start of individual workouts Tuesday.
Earlier this year, after play was suspended on account of the coronavirus in March, the NBA successfully finished the season in a “bubble” at Florida’s Walt Disney World Resort campus, where no players tested positive.
Now, outside of that enclosed campus environment, players will continue to be tested daily throughout the season, which is scheduled to tip off Dec. 22.
There have been no reports that any Lakers or Clippers players are among those who have tested positive, but the Golden State Warriors reported Tuesday that they were delaying the start of individual workouts because two players tested positive.
On Tuesday, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health reported 7,593 new cases of coronavirus, the highest number of coronavirus cases that L.A. County has experienced throughout the pandemic. There were 46 deaths reported by the county Tuesday, raising the number of reported deaths to 7,700.
And on Wednesday, the Orange County Health Care Agency reported 1,208 new cases, bringing the total to 13,756 cases recorded in the last 14 days. One new death reported by the county Wednesday brought its total to 1,578.
In a Zoom video conference Wednesday, Lawrence Frank, the Clippers’ president of basketball operations, said the team has faith in the NBA’s protocols to deal with the pandemic and that players recognize the seriousness of the situation. The Clippers, who began workouts on schedule this week, declined to state whether anyone on their team was among those who tested positive.
“Our guys are very, very sensitive to it,” Frank said. “Going through the bubble experience and just all the protocols everyone has to do daily with the testing, the surveys. Our facilities group has done a great job making sure we’re all compliant in terms of the mask-wearing, the social distancing, the hand washing, the number of people that are allowed in the facility.
“What’s different between what we’re going through now and the bubble is that the bubble controlled many of the variables. Because when we each go home, whether it’s to family or friends — in the bubble you didn’t have that — now it puts additional pressure on the people that you’re living with, that they’re as compliant as each of us are.
“You don’t necessarily have to lack discipline to catch COVID, it could be going to do some essential shopping. I just think it’s a continued conversation, it’s a continued adherence, and you just gotta count your blessings and be very, very fortunate that you don’t catch the virus. You just do all you can to control it.”
According to the 139-page health and safety protocol that the league issued to teams over the weekend, a player must refrain from workouts for 10 days if he tests positive and remains asymptomatic — or 10 days from the end of his symptoms if he has any. After that, he will have to spend two days working out individually, as well as passing a cardiac screening, before he can resume full team activities.
The first preseason games are scheduled for Dec. 11, fewer than 12 days from the end of the first testing window.
Posted by: https://anaheimsigns.comNBA and NBPA Announce COVID-19 Test Results pic.twitter.com/XnUwEAI4TI
— NBPA (@TheNBPA) December 2, 2020
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