Why Can the Utah Jazz Get Coronavirus Testing, But I Can ’t?

On Tuesday, March 17 the Brooklyn Nets reported that four of the team’s players had been diagnosed with COVID-19: Kevin Durant was one of them. (He said he’s doing fine). Most Los Angeles Lakers players were reportedly tested for COVID-19 on Wednesday. The traveling party for the Toronto Raptors was tested last week: the results came up negative. Also last week, Utah Jazz All-Star Rudy Gobert received a positive diagnosis in Oklahoma City: Oklahoma health officials then scrambled to test 58 Utah players, coaches, staff and associates at the Chesapeake Energy Arena, where the Oklahoma City Thunder play home games. A second All-Star, Utah guard Donavan Mitchell, also tested positive for COVID-19. Under normal circumstances, news of Americans—professional athletes or otherwise—getting tested for an infectious disease would not be cause for outrage. But during this global pandemic, the U.S. is faced with a shortage of testing kits for COVID-19. Even many health care workers, tasked with treating sick patients on the front lines and doing what they can to halt the spread of the disease, don’t have ready access to coronavirus testing. So it’s only natural to wonder why professional sports teams seem to have easier access to testing than the general population. It’s only fair to ask, how come the Utah Jazz can get tested for COVID-19, but I can’t? New York City mayor Bill de Blasio tapped into this dissatisfaction upon reacting to the...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 Source Type: news