The Boston Celtics won’t be playing ay games with anyone any time soon after the NBA moved to suspend the season indefinitely Wednesday night.
After Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19, the Coronavirus currently behind the unfolding global pandemic, the NBA decided to suspend the season indefinitely while an appropriate course of action is decided upon, reports ESPN senior writer Adrian Wojnarowski.
Gobert was not at the arena, reports ESPN’s Royce Young, but was being tested as a precautionary measure.
When the results came back positive for the viral infection, the game — moments away from tipoff — was called off, and players for both teams remained quarantined at the arena.
The NBA "will use hiatus to determine next steps moving forward," league says. https://t.co/tWoRO8pbfT
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) March 12, 2020
With the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines calling for the quarantine of individuals exposed to others who have tested positive for the virus and the high degree of exposure built into an NBA schedule, the move was undoubtedly the right one.
For now, many questions remain about what will happen in the NBA and in the wider world with regards to the pandemic.
The Celtics as a team have yet to release a statement, but fourth-year shooting guard Jaylen Brown went on Instagram Live to council calm and adherence to best practices to prevent viral pandemics.
While we wait for answers, we should applaud the league for taking decisive action in favor of public and player health, and take care to follow the best practices recommended by experts in the CDC and WHO.
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