Players With Inconclusive Covid-19 Tests Can Return To NBA Matches

According to reports from ESPN, players will now return sooner, after coronavirus tests, at the NBA’s Orlando Bubble after the NBA reportedly adjusted its safety protocols.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski disclosed that players whose coronavirus tests return inconclusive will return to games at the NBA Bubble in Orlando, Florida.

The details of the change in the safety protocols in the Bubble that can make a player get back to the games sooner was revealed by Adrian Wojnarowski on Twitter.

“After entering quarantine, if a player is asymptomatic and tests negative on a first retest, he will be permitted to play in his next game as long another negative test is returned within 60 minutes of the game’s start time. On average, every 5 in 1,000 tests can be inconclusive.” Adrian Wojnarowski was quoted on the NBA’s website.

Previously, players who test positive at any point will need to test negative two times in over 24 hours before leaving isolation and rejoin their respective teams.

The change was seemingly brought forth after a player from Sacramento Kings, whose identity was not revealed, had a Covid-19 test this week but returned inconclusive and was allowed to feature for his team after he had two negative tests in the following days.

“[An inconclusive test], it’s bound to happen, It will probably happen again to someone else while we are out here, but the player is back with us, and we have everyone available.”Kings’ head coach Luke Walton was quoted by the NBA.

No player has tested positive for the coronavirus since July 20, with 346 players tested. It is, however, said that “false positive” tests can happen 0.5 percent of the time.

Frequent testing in the bubble could lead to more false-positive tests.

Written by: Daniel Ademiju Idowu