Social distancing works, as do other pandemic measures like staying away from crowded public places.
The NBA has been playing in a bubble. In case you missed it, this year is a “whole new ballgame” in basketball, (to reference the wrong sport), as things go forward amidst the pandemic. On September 4 2020, the association including players, officials, and others involved marked 60 days living with extremely tight health protocols. This is something that is being done in order to keep the coronavirus out of professional basketball, and the players on the court. It’s all very extreme but so far, it has been amazing. The plan has been a success. It is truly allowing players to continue playing games this season, albeit without any fans present, but also without the presence of COVID-19
How are they doing it? The NBA’s “closed-campus plan” is complex and stringent. All games are now being played at a single site location at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, and very few outsiders are allowed in. The families of players and coaches have been asked to stay out, and referees are allowed one guest only. Players will be allowed to bring a limited number of family members to the campus in the second round of playoffs, but before then, no one comes in but those with an official jersey and a number to their name, as well as coaches and referees.
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Of course, not everyone involved loves this set up. Denver Nuggets head coach Michael Malone has protested the no-family policy for coaches, calling it “criminal in nature”.
That it may be, but you have to admit, the whole system is working.
Since beginning to play on the closed campus, there have been no reported confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the NBA. This is true among all 22 teams. There are somewhere in the area of 1,400 people working in various roles on the closed basketball campus and everyone is staying virus-free. According to reports, everyone wears masks. Everyone sanitizes their hands. They do it all the time. Players are filling out digital symptoms surveys every morning, and using Disney’s “Magic Band” tracking devices to show they did it.
Saliva swabs are being used, and turnaround times for COVID-19 tests are said to be very short. Everyone is kept in the loop. People are practicing social distancing every time they eat, and there is incredible buy-in from all involved.
Sure, this type of behavior is not possible from the general public, at least not all the time. We can’t always socially distance ourselves from those closest to us, and none of us can really live in a “closed campus” set up. But this whole experiment shows that all of these measures really work. If everyone sanitized their hands after touching common surfaces, and wore a mask outside, and told others honestly about their symptoms when they were feeling sick, it would be possible to keep COVID-19 cases down.
It is time we learn from our heroes, and believe we can be everyday ones, as well. COVID-19 is beatable.
photo credits: Liudmyla Guniavaia/Shutterstock.com
