Andy Slavitt – Syndication Server

COVID-19 expert on Kyrie Irving: ‘He’s not above the law’

Former White House senior advisor Andy Slavitt responds to Kyrie Irving’s situation with the Nets.

Nets superstar Kyrie Irving is set to miss the upcoming 2021-22 NBA season after the Nets declared that Irving would not be allowed to participate in any team activities until he becomes fully eligible in accordance with local COVID-19 policies. Irving initially was to be ruled out of all games in the New York market, as unvaccinated Knicks and Nets players are not allowed to play home games – but the Nets sent a message on Tuesday, announcing that Irving will be barred from team activities until he meets the requirements to become a full participant. .

On the Celtics Lab podcast, Justin Quinn of Celtics Wire interviewed Andy Slavitt, a former White House senior advisor for the COVID Response Team, on his thoughts regarding Irving’s situation.

“I really don’t understand Kyrie Irving at all. Is he for real? Is he joking? — I don’t really know what’s driving the guy. I do think they have to hold firm with what the Nets are doing, that’s a law for a reason, he’s not above the law. What this requirement says is something basically fundamental and it’s fundamental to what the NBA believes. What it basically says is, ‘none of us are more important than all of us.’ And if you think you’re more important than all of us, if you disagree with that, if you’re Kyrie Irving and you think what you want is more important than everybody else, than the collective, then don’t play ball.”

This post originally appeared on Nets Wire.

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Celtics Lab 70: Talking COVID-19, vaccination and the NBA with In the Bubble’s Andy Slavitt

If you want a fresh perspective on how to change minds regarding COVID-19 vaccination in the NBA or beyond, this episode is for you.

Much of the conversation ahead of the 2021-22 NBA season circulating in the NBA media has revolved around something that isn’t necessarily a basketball conversation, though it has pervaded virtually all aspects of contemporary life. We are of course talking about COVID-19 vaccination in the league, and in particular some especially vaccine-resistant players who occupy positions of considerable influence.

But rather than making the story about those individuals, the hosts of the “Celtics Lab” podcast Justin Quinn, Cam Tabatabaie, and Alex Goldberg dug deep in the hopes of re-setting the narratives a bit surrounding how we should engage those persons and the issue of vaccine hesitancy (and more pernicious anti-vaccine sentiments) in society more generally.

It can be hard for some of us in the media to see Kyrie Irving, LeBron James, and others resistant to making some choices for the common good. But, a steady stream of fan and media ire is almost certainly going to do little to change their minds on how they can best use their platforms (and bodies) to make us all safer (and teams perhaps more successful) in a pandemic.

To that end, we were incredibly lucky to have Andy Slavitt of the “In the Bubble with Andy Slavitt” podcast to talk on the intersection of public health, the NBA and society at large in an era of COVID-19. Andy has worked with the last three presidents on issues of public health, most recently serving as President Biden’s COVID-19 advisor.

We hope you find this podcast as informative and helpful in coping with and making progress on this viral scourge affecting all of our lives as we did.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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Former head of health care Andy Slavitt says NBA may not return at all

A former head of health care believes the NBA may not return at all this season.

The NBA is in a current moment of suspension as the outbreak of COVID-19 has taken the world by storm. Countries have gone into complete lockdowns and there have been laws put into place to encourage people to stay home as much as possible.

With the current state of affairs, fans around the league are wondering when basketball will return. There were reports that the league is hoping to return in mid-to-late June, but that might not even be a realistic possibility when considering the spread of the virus and the lack of people who are taking it seriously.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski recently posted the latest episode of The Woj Pod with Andy Slavitt who is the former head of Health Care during the Barack Obama presidency. Slavitt said the reports are doing a disservice by giving hope to fans.

Slavitt said:

I think so. Look, there’s going to be a lot of political and social pressure to get the NBA to start up as soon as possible and you know what? A little normalcy would do us all some good. So, I myself, would love to see that happen, but I will tell you that, if that happens, it won’t be because it’s in our best health care interests, it won’t be because it’s in the interest of our families and country from a health standpoint, it will happen because it’s in the best interest of our country because we’re going a little nuts here…I will say the other thing is if we do a much, much better job of socially isolating, then we may have a shot. With the current rate of people who I think are a little bit dubious or if they aren’t dubious, they’re not quite 100% all the way doing the things they need to do to hashtag stay home and socially isolate, then I think you’ve got a real challenge.

Whatever happens, it would be an absolute shame for things to end this way. The Philadelphia 76ers, while they have been definitely maddening, had hopes of a deep playoff run and just had Joel Embiid and Josh Richardson return to the floor after both missed time with injuries. [lawrence-related id=27861,27852,27808]