NBA training camps are opening outside a bubble, in a world being ravaged by coronavirus.
Unsurprisingly, players are contracting the virus. The announced two Warriors and one Wizard barely scratch the surface of positive tests.
NBA release:NBA players returned to a league-wide testing program over the past week, with testing beginning between Nov. 24-30 depending on the day that a player returned to the team’s market.
Of the 546 players tested for COVID-19 during this initial return-to-market testing phase, 48 have returned positive tests.
That’s 8.8%.
For perspective, COVID-19 Projections estimates 2.5% of people in the United States actively had coronavirus on Nov. 17 (the most recent date estimated).
The NBA is getting rocked by coronavirus.
At least 54 players tested positive for coronavirus previously. The actual number is almost certainly higher.
No positive tests had been disclosed since the bubble launched despite eight teams never joining the bubble, teams getting eliminated from the bubble as it proceeded and the bubble being over for several weeks. It defies belief that no NBA players contracted and recovered from coronavirus between July 13 (the date of the previous announcement) and Nov. 24 (the start of this testing period).
There were also highly likely players who contracted coronavirus prior to July 13 and never publicly disclosed it.
So, though this brings the known total of NBA players who’ve tested positive to 102, that is merely the conservative count.
Hopefully, everyone recovers quickly and smoothly.
Unfortunately, it’s clear – with the upcoming season being held outside a bubble – this will merely start a wave of positive tests.