Rudy Gobert Testing Positive For Coronavirus Finally Propelled Sports Leagues To Take Pandemic Seriously

Three weeks ago, U.S. health officials told Americans to expect “severe disruptions” to their everyday lives as the coronavirus spread domestically. But our sports institutions didn’t appear to listen. Games were still played as scheduled; fans still packed into arenas; Tom Brady Watch continued to dominate the daily discourse. But within four minutes Wednesday, everything changed. Jazz All-Star center Rudy Gobert testing positive for COVID-19 proved our favorite athletes are not immune from pandemics. And now, the sports world is desperately trying to catch up.

At 9:27 p.m. EST Wednesday, it was reported Gobert tested positive for coronavirus. At 9:31 p.m. EST, the NBA announced it was suspending its season. Since then, a plethora of professional leagues have followed suit, including the NHL, MLB and MLS. The Power 5 college basketball leagues — the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC and Pac-12 — also canceled their championship tournaments Thursday. The Big East tournament lasted one half before conference officials wised up and shut down  the event. Amazingly, March Madness is still slated to begin next week — albeit without any spectators in the seats — but it seems inevitable college basketball’s iconic championship tournament will be canceled or postponed as well.

Gobert’s positive test, coupled with news that actor Tom Hanks and his wife, Rita Wilson, also tested positive for coronavirus, served as a wakeup call for those who believed the pandemic was some sort of hysterical media creation. It also apparently served as a wakeup call for Gobert, who was reportedly feeling strong enough to play in Utah’s matchup against the Thunder in Oklahoma City. Earlier this week, in a seeming attempt to mock the severity of the outbreak, Gobert made sure to touch every reporter’s microphone before leaving his media availability session.

But nobody is mocking the situation now. Jazz star guard Donovan Mitchell has also tested positive for COVID-19, and players from teams that have played against the Jazz within the past 10 days have been asked self-quarantine, according to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst. The Jazz’s matchup against the Thunder was postponed immediately after Gobert’s positive test result, as was Pelicans-Kings, after it was discovered one of the officials slated to work that contest had also refereed Utah’s game on Monday night.

It’s important to remember the vast majority of coronavirus patients recover without complications. The Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci, told Congress 80% of the 90,000 people who have been infected by the novel coronavirus “spontaneously recover.” But the virus carries far greater risk for our elderly and chronically ill. The fatality rate in China for those over 80 is an estimated 21.9%, per the World Health Organization. In the U.S., 19 of the 38 reported coronavirus-related deaths occurred at the same nursing home facility in Washington.

These social distancing measures are meant to protect the most vulnerable among us. As Celtics forward Jaylen Brown eloquently put it, we all have a responsibility to stop the spread of the new infectious disease. “It may not be about you, but there are people who are at risk … fighting off other infections,” he tweeted. “Please stay home if you can.”

Other countries in the world have demonstrated the effectiveness of containment. The Chinese Basketball Association, which suspended play Feb. 1, plans to resume next month and is calling back American players. South Korea has seen its case load flatline, though it’s worth mentioning they were conducting 10,000 tests per day, whereas the U.S. has only reportedly conducted a little more than 7,000 tests in total since the start of the outbreak. Dr. Fauci called the U.S. testing capacity a “failing” at a congressional hearing Thursday.

With that in mind, it’s even more imperative for sports leagues to halt play while U.S. officials attempt to combat the pandemic. It’s hard to fathom how quickly the conversation has turned from just two days ago, when one of the NBA’s reported ideas to combat the crisis was just to move games to different cities. As recently as Tuesday, the Columbus Blue Jackets planned to still play games in front of fans, despite Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s edict to refrain from holding large public gatherings.

But now we find ourselves in unprecedented times. To state the obvious, public health and safety should take precedent over sporting events, whether they are meaningless Spring Training contests or March Madness championship games. It took one positive test to wake everybody up. Better late than never.