In a positive turn of events the Raptors test negative.
COVID-19 Update From The Toronto Raptors | Toronto Raptors
The Toronto Raptors travel party underwent testing for COVID-19 on Wednesday evening, after learning that an opponent we had recently faced had acquired the virus.
All of the members of the travel party who were tested on Wednesday in Toronto have received their results, and they are all currently negative. Results for one additional person are pending.
These results will not affect our protocols, however. Those asked to self-isolate by Toronto Public Health will continue to do so. We will all practice social distancing and good hand hygiene, and – most importantly – carefully monitor our health.
We continue to be in close contact with public health authorities and infectious disease experts, and are very grateful for their guidance. As always, we appreciate the support of our fans, families, and friends.
Coronavirus information for NBA fans | NBA.com Canada | The official site of the NBA
In NBA commissioner Adam Silver’s letter to NBA fans, he pleaded that you visit NBA.com for the latest news, updates and interactive features to stay connected to the game, but that you could also “find guidelines on how to keep yourself and your family safe and healthy.”
Below, you can find the NBA’s memo to fans on how to decrease coronavirus risk.
Follow-up from @MLSEPR …
Anyone affected by temporary halt in operations will receive financial payment to bridge employees between their EI benefits & 95% of their regular avg earnings (max allowed by Service Canada for them to be eligible for full EI benefit) for 4 weeks https://t.co/FvCWEJSDmi
— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) March 13, 2020
The NBA’s Waiting Game Begins – The Ringer
Previous halts to the NBA schedule were foreshadowed by events within the sport itself; the 2011 lockout, for example, came after months of squabbling over luxury-tax stipulations and BRI splits, and years of anticipation before that. In contrast, the Jazz and Thunder were warming up for their game when Donnie Strack, the head of Oklahoma City’s medical staff, ran out on the floor to shut everything down. One NBA game already in progress trickled to a close, another was canceled, and that was it. Fans filed to the exits, support staff scrubbed down what they could, and the lights in the league went out.
More should have been done to prepare for this inevitability. It’s easy to say that now, in the echo of an empty arena, but it’s as true now as it was weeks ago. So much less could have been left to chance. Instead, the league and its teams took an entirely reactive approach, stalling out until it was too late.
We have no way of knowing when the next NBA game will be played. Sports are (or were) one of the last areas of public life with real finality. At the end of each game is a winner. At the end of each season is a champion. Material to both is the understanding of when the end will come, a premise that gives the entire experience its structure. It ebbs and flows, but always within the NBA’s careful framework. The free-agent twists and testosterone soap opera create the illusion of chaos in an orderly world. Actual chaos is the moment after an entire season has been thrown up in the air, as we all wait to see where it lands.
Raptors’ COVID-19 test results are encouraging, though other questions remain – The Athletic
The uncertainty of the past two days has been difficult for the Raptors, but there is more ahead. Everyone involved and who came in contact with the Raptors is also advised to continue carefully monitoring their health and to follow public health guidelines. The Raptors will remain in close contact with health authorities and infectious disease experts.
As my colleague Eric Koreen wrote Friday, this will be difficult and is a reminder of what we’ll lose here and how the spirit of community can help us persevere. There are enormous questions still to answer, such as why the NBA operated as cavalierly as it did, what impact this could have on the league calendar, draft, free agency, the salary cap and more. Raptors 905 players, for example, have been stocking up on groceries in anticipation of social distancing while awaiting word on whether they’ll be sent home with a cancelled, rather than suspended, season. The league and union have agreed to a moratorium on league activity until April 10 and more negotiations on that front will be forthcoming.
For a while, we’re going to be in the dark on those answers. What Eric and I hope to do, though, is answer as many Raptors-related questions as we can in the interim, keep you entertained with alternative stories and approaches and most of all make sure the spirit of the Raptors community endures as a resource and reprieve for those who need it.
In the spirit of that, I’d like to open the floor to questions for a Tuesday mailbag post where I’ll do my best to sort through any remaining uncertainties that are knowable at the current time.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B9qILgiAXEH/