The Boston Celtics and 21 other teams headed to Lake Buena Vista Florida to complete the NBA’s 2019-20 season are less than two weeks away from the start of mandatory COVID-19 testing to ensure an infection-free start to the resumption of the season.
Taking place at Disney’s NBA campus on the Wide World of Sports complex, the league will begin ramping up key parts of its return to play methodology, which includes requiring participating players return to their home markets for the test.
The evaluative period begins June 23rd, and ends on June 30th.
Mercifully for those players, the invasive, deep nasal swab tests demonstrated by Celtic Enes Kanter on his Instagram will not be used in most cases.
Inside the Orlando bubble, NBA players will have the option of wearing a ring that could help with early detection of coronavirus; track temperature, respiratory and heart rate.
Full details on @TheAthleticNBA: https://t.co/a8IHGfnUHt
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 16, 2020
According to The Athletic’s Shams Charania, a shallow nasal swab and oral swab (PCR test) and a blood draw (serology or antibody test) will be the primary means of testing players, with Quest Diagnostics being the NBA’s partner in coronavirus testing.
Any positive result will automatically trigger a second test to safeguard against false positives.
Confirmed positives will then be required to quarantine for 14 days, and test negative two times before they are allowed to play again, per ESPN’s Tim Bontemps.
Key dates for NBA offseason come into focus as early entry window set https://t.co/TOLCsbHOTk via @thecelticswire
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) June 20, 2020
Players are currently allowed to work out individually at team facilities, and starting July 1st, those workouts become mandatory.
Group workouts will remain off the table until teams begin to arrive at the NBA Campus between July 7th and 9th, when players will first quarantine until they can test negative twice in tests 24 hours apart.
Once cleared, teams will be able to practice in groups until July 21st, with scrimmages beginning on the 22nd.
And, if all goes well, the season will officially resume on July 30th.
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