6 Things to Watch As the NBA ’s COVID-19 Bubble Postseason Gets Underway

An all-too-long 141 days after the NBA shut down on March 11—an event that first signaled to many Americans the dire seriousness of COVID-19—the league will restart its 2019-2020 season on Thursday, with a nationally televised doubleheader: the New Orleans Pelicans and Utah Jazz face off at 6:30 p.m. eastern, while the Los Angeles Lakers take on the Los Angeles Clippers at 9; both games will air on TNT. At one point, fans, league officials and players might have imagined a resumed NBA season to be a sign that America has emerged from the worst of the novel coronavirus. Unfortunately, tip-off is no mark of public health improvement: July has seen a record surge of new daily cases of COVID-19; on July 28th alone, more than 60,000 new COVID-19 cases were reported in the U.S. Back in March, no one would have thought that the NBA would resume, 141 days later, as things are getting worse. But here we are. Tonight’s tipoff is a sober reminder of where America has been, and how far the country has to go to overcome COVID-19. At the same time, the idea of basketball as pleasurable distraction still holds, especially given yesterday’s welcome news: of the 344 players tested for COVID-19 in the NBA’s “Orlando bubble” since results were last announced on July 20, zero have returned positive tests. It’s early. Players can do silly things, like visit an adult establishment to eat wings in Atlanta, to puncture the NBA’s safety bubble. ...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 NBA UnitedWeRise20Disaster Source Type: news