NBA 2020-21: NBA training camps open the day after tomorrow. The dates for NBA 2020-21 preseason have also been set. The NBA released a 134-page guide outlining the Covid-19 protocols.
The document is similar to the one NBA designed to supervise everything in the bubble it created at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida for the NBA playoffs.
If someone tests positive for the coronavirus, all the teams will have to go through a variety of measures. These include reporting the positive test to local authorities, cleaning and disinfecting all the space established by the team or its arena where the person who tested positive had been since their last negative test, and setting up isolation accommodation for the person with the positive test.
The NBA has waived off all the charges from the league’s salary cap that the team might incur while setting up an isolation accommodation for the person who was tested positive.
Also Read: NBA’s anonymous hotline to report health and safety violations
As NBA organizations begin daily coronavirus testing this weekend and prepare for start of training camps next week, teams were issued a 134-page “Health and Safety Protocol Guide” for the 2020-2021 season this morning, per sources. Now, the NBA tries this outside of a bubble.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) November 28, 2020
What is in the 134-page guide released by the NBA before the new season starts?
The guide is designed to “promote prevention and mitigation strategies to reduce exposure to, and transmission of, the coronavirus,” but that it is possible that some players and staff might contract the virus.
NBA also set up a rules system for what will happen if someone tests positive for COVID-19. Under such a situation, there are two possible routes to return: a “time-based” resolution, and a “test-based” resolution.
Time-based resolution:
This system states that the infected person will have to go at least 10 days from their first positive test or since they started getting symptoms(if any) of the virus. It also states that the person must have gone at least 24 hours since their fever went away without the use of medications.
Check out the NBA preseason schedule here.
Test-based resolution:
Under the test-based resolution, the person who contracted the virus must deliver at least two back-to-back negative PCR tests from specimens taken at 24 hours apart.
Any player who is determined to have a new positive case from testing will not be allowed to participate in any training for at least 10 days from either the positive test or the resolution of symptoms if they have any.
After a player has waited for a minimum of 10 days, they will be told to spend two days working out by themselves.
They will not be allowed to interact with anyone or participate in any team activities, wearing a mask at all times when at the facility. They also must engage in a cardiac screening.
So any player who tests positive will have to miss a minimum of 12 days before they can return to play.
Also Read: 8 health and safety protocols released by the NBA