If the Boston Celtics — and the rest of the NBA — are going to get back on the court any time soon, there’s one thing in particular that needs to happen.
Tests.
Lots of them, of the sort that detect the coronavirus responsible for the quarantines shutting down the NBA and other major professional sports leagues around the world, as well as much of the rest of the economy.
They’ll need to be readily available, too; the league won’t make itself any allies if it exacerbated the view that NBA players are somehow more special than the many people.
Here's how to tell when the NBA is coming back…https://t.co/It3KQNxr5w
— Steve Bulpett (@SteveBHoop) April 6, 2020
Particularly essential workers keeping us alive, healthy, and fed and with critical utilities, many of whom are still struggling to get access to them now.
And they’ll need to be the sort that work on the same day the Celtic Wire has highlighted previously, without expert interpretation required and with a reliable degree of accuracy.
Players, officials, staff and media — even if they are all running a bare-bones crew — deserve to feel and be safe, and only the knowledge that they are getting very close to fully healthy or recovered individuals will allow such a now high-risk event to move forward.
“There are certain lines that can’t be crossed, and everyone knows where they are,” said an anonymous league executive to the Boston Herald’s Steve Bulpett.
“We’re hearing from a lot of different corners, including from doctors, that would love to see the games return, just for the sign it would give. But you have to be able to do it right. It’s not just that you don’t want to look bad. The more important thing is you don’t want to be bad.”
“You don’t want to be taking up resources if there’s still a shortage,” they added.
Whomever this league executive is, they aren’t wrong — at all.
As much as a return to even audience-less games would be an absolutely massive boost for morale for the millions hunkering down in their homes, it can’t be done at the expense of their or the players’ and staff’s safety.
Windhorst on ESPN says the only way the NBA is coming back is with mass testing that provides quick results and doesn't require taking tests away from people who need them
— Trevor Lane (@Trevor_Lane) April 6, 2020
Adam Silver, the NBA’s commissioner, related on a conference call between the U.S. president and the heads of the country’s major professional sports leagues that the leagues would love to lead the way in restarting the economy once public health officials give the “all clear”, report ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Adrian Wojnarowski.
This would almost certainly include widespread access to testing.
While still away off for most Americans, such a move represents an area for NBA officials, public health experts and federal and local governments to join forces in order to accelerate a global recovery from this pandemic supported by science and leading experts.
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