The NBA restart is in jeopardy because of the skyrocketing number of COVID-19 cases in Florida. Players and execs are wary with the entire bubble idea.
The NBA is set to restart in five weeks and the feeling towards the idea fluctuates up and down everyday. At present, the atmosphere around the league is gloomy. The idea of the bubble is concerning for many players and team execs. Now, NBA commissioner Adam Silver seems to have the same feeling.
NBA restart is in jeopardy
The cases in Florida hit daily highs over the weekend. Last Saturday, the reported number of 4,049 cases broke the single-day high of Friday which was 3,822. Majority of these cases come from hardest hit areas in South Florida.
Fortunately, the bubble is set to take place in Central Florida within the Disney World compound. Nonetheless, Silver seems to have a dampened mood over the restart. He knows of the rising number of cases in Florida yet he still wants to push through with the bubble plan.
One exec shared that his tone was “resolute but somber.” However, he remains positive that the NBA has a solid plan to prevent the bubble from being burst. In fact, several epidemiologists are praising the NBA’s thorough restart plan to protect the players and the staff within the compound.
Worries over the bubble
The word bubble has been mentioned heavily the past few weeks. The idea of the bubble is to keep all NBA players and games within a compound. This compound will implement a strict health protocol to prevent the cluster from being infected by outsiders.
All players and team staff will be housed in different hotels. Additionally, they will undergo regular testings to monitor their health status. However, players and execs are way about this idea. They worry about the staff of the hotels and the entire compound. These staffers normally live outside the Disney World compound, and move in and out of the place daily.
Nonetheless, the NBA, ESPN, and Disney World are confident that they’ve thought about the concerns of the players. Last week, teams were given a 113-page document outlining the health safety protocols set in place for the teams.
In the same report, it says that staff of the compound will wear personal protective equipment when servicing the players’ hotel rooms. Also, they will only service the rooms when the players aren’t in the area.
Image courtesy of zhangjin_net/Shutterstock