News Item: Nets set to take off to Orlando on TuesdayNews Item: Florida continues to set COVID-19 caseload records, breaks 200,000 positive tests
The NBA's revenue-grabbing scheme is set to commence this week, with 22 teams, including Brooklyn, flying into the Disney World complex in Orlando in an attempt to complete the 2019-20 season that was halted on March 11 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite heading into one of the most infected regions in the country, the league's signal seems to be set on full-speed ahead with the resumption.
Over the past two weeks, Florida has seen 451.9 new cases per 100,000 people, the second-highest per capita rate in the nation, per NBC News Miami. 60,000 new cases popped up in the last week, bringing the state-wide total over 200,000. Florida's COVID-19 reproductive rate, which estimates how many people one person can infect (with a rate below 1.0 required to stop spreading), is 1.3, the fourth-highest in the U.S., per rt.live.
Orlando is the second-biggest hotbed among the state's cities, behind only Miami. Orange County's hospitalization chart is also trending in the wrong direction.
Six Nets have already been infected. Center DeAndre Jordan and forward Wilson Chandler have opted out of participating in the Disney "bubble" and Spencer Dinwiddie is also considering it.
Considering the potential exposures from leaks (hospital workers, family arrivals after the first round of the playoffs, antsy players sneaking out), it's not really a bubble. Call it "Fantasy Land."
News Item: Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie feeling virus effectsNews item: Scientists Uncover Long-Term Effects of COVID-19, Virus Attacks Vital Organs
There is still so much we don't know about this disease. It's too new—that's why it's called a "novel" coronavirus.
If you happen to be watching any cable news show, you're likely to see a dashboard on the side showing data from this pandemic. Typically two stats are tabulated: cases and deaths.
No one seems to be digging deeper into the analytics, like tallying, "recovered, but…"
Studies have been reporting multiple health issues in people who are in the vast middle ground – those who have supposedly beaten the virus yet are still feeling effects. In the report above from NBC San Diego, the disease has left behind nasty and possibly life-long conditions; you name an organ, someone with the disease probably has seen it debilitated.
And it doesn't matter the infected person's age or whether or not they were symptomatic. Scientists have yet to figure out the virus' randomness.
Dinwiddie told The Athletic a week ago that he tested positive. He claimed he had been "diligent about protecting himself" until he started practicing at Brooklyn's facility, which was then forced to close for a few days. Subsequently he has tweeted that he's been symptomatic, noting on July 1 that "I haven't been in bed this much since my surgery."
Hopefully, Dinwiddie is able to make a full recovery – and as mentioned, he's considering skipping the remainder of the season, but hasn't ruled it out. In his Sunday update, he mentioned that he hoped for a negative result on his next test so he can resume practicing on Tuesday despite experiencing dizzy spells from the day's bike exercise.
That's why this is so scary. It's not entirely a win/loss situation. An elite athlete was exposed to risks that have the potential to disrupt his future, and I'm not just talking about his basketball performance.
In my last column, I wondered how many positive tests it would take before the league shuts down. Depending, heaven forbid, on whether a certain outcome follows, it shouldn't be more than that particular one.
News item: NBA will conduct "regular COVID-19 testing" inside Orlando bubbleNews Item: A dire warning from COVID-19 test providers
To date, the NBA has only updated its COVID-19 test results weekly. It is assumed that teams are testing more often, especially those that have found positive cases. Once inside the Orlando bubble, the league's health protocols call for "regular testing" of all personnel – players, staff, refs, game operators, etc. The goal is nightly, with results available the following morning.
The NBA's contracted lab may be able to meet that standard, which is kind of nice, considering that a regular person going in for a test on a Monday might be lucky to get results by Friday, if they're able to schedule a test at all.
States with severe outbreaks, like Florida, are concerned that there won't be enough tests to fill their needs. Lab companies are already overburdened and behind schedule. Quest Diagnostics, one of the country's largest testing labs, announced last week that they will only guarantee one-day delivery of results for certain at-risk patients and healthcare workers.
The league faced a minor backlash in March when infected teams, like the Nets, found ways to procure tests for all personnel from private labs while the general public was subject to a lottery equivalent. New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio weighed in, wondering why asymptomatic people were getting tested amid a city-wide shortage.
That was just for one set of tests. Going forward, each of the 22 teams will initially bring 35 people into the bubble. Add in league and media employees--let's call it 1,000 tests. Every day.
Now, the NBA should be credited if it executes its plan to purchase tests and related supplies in each of the 22 participating cities. That was intended to head off a PR nightmare. But isn't this one reason why we got into this mess in the first place, by pitting the have's versus the have-not's? Portland—we got you. Seattle, you're on your own.
Beating this virus, which cares about nothing other than finding another body to infect, has always required a national response. Why can't the NBA see that they're about to become part of the problem?
Follow Steve Lichtenstein on Twitter: @SteveLichtenst1
Follow WFAN on Social MediaTwitter | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube
