2 Los Angeles Lakers, Marcus Smart have tested positive for coronavirus
According to reports, two members of the Los Angeles Lakers and one member of the Boston Celtics have tested positive for coronavirus, raising the NBA tally to 10 confirmed cases.
The NBA tally for confirmed coronavirus cases just increased by three.
According to The Athletic‘s Shams Charania, two members of the Los Angeles Lakers and one member of the Boston Celtics have tested positive for novel coronavirus raising the league’s overall count from seven to 10. Marcus Smart announced on Twitter soon after that he was the Celtic whose test results came back positive.
The news comes on a day where one member of the Denver Nuggets organization and three members of the Philadelphia 76ers also tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
As the LA Times‘ Brad Turner reports, 14 players on the Lakers were tested on Wednesday, with those results coming in Thursday. The night before the NBA shut down over fears of Rudy Gobert contracting COVID-19, the Lakers played the Brooklyn Nets, who recently announced four of their players — including Kevin Durant — had tested positive.
Including Gobert, his All-Star teammate Donovan Mitchell, Christian Wood of the Detroit Pistons, Durant and three of his Nets teammates, and now these two unnamed Lakers and Smart, the total number of confirmed cases has increased to 10, with more likely to come as the rest of the league gets tested.
The NBA season is currently suspended, a decision that is due to be re-evaluated after 30 days. However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have issued new guidelines recommending against gatherings of more than 50 people for at least eight weeks. That makes it unlikely the NBA could resume play before mid-June at the earliest.
To date, more than 180,000 cases (and 7,00 deaths) have been confirmed in more than 160 countries worldwide, including the United States, which has seen more than 4,000 affected Americans and 75 deaths. The World Health Organization officially declared the outbreak a pandemic on March 9 and countries have implemented curfews, travel bans and mandatory quarantines to help prevent its spread.
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For more information about COVID-19, visit the CDC’s website or the website for your state’s Department of Health.