NYC Mayor has a Big Question About NBA Player Coronavirus Testing

Getty Kevin Durant, one of four Brooklyn Nets to have tested posititve for coronavirus

One of the difficulties the U.S. has had in dealing with the coronavirus since it arrived in this country has been the lack of adequate testing kits deployed throughout the country, which has likely allowed the disease to spread largely undetected. According to the Washington Post, from mid-January until February 28, there were 160,000 test kits produced and only 4,000 were used.

Ashish Jha, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, told Bloomberg News this week, “We’re so far behind this thing at this point. And the reason we’re so far behind is because we’ve had so little testing.”

Which leads to an obvious question as we have seen news of now seven NBA players who have tested positive for coronavirus and whole teams being subject to testing: How is it that NBA teams are being so freely tested while the population in general is facing a shortage of tests?

This was something that New York Mayor Bill de Blasio wondered on Twitter. “We wish them a speedy recovery. But, with all due respect, an entire NBA team should NOT get tested for COVID-19 while there are critically ill patients waiting to be tested,” de Blasio wrote in a tweet responding to news of four Brooklyn Nets being tested positive for the disease. “Tests should not be for the wealthy, but for the sick.”

NBA: Player Testing has Spread Awareness

Currently, seven NBA players have tested positive for coronavirus since March 12, when the first case came to light: Rudy Gobert (the first) and Donovan Mitchell of the Jazz, and Christian Wood of the Pistons, plus four Brooklyn Nets, including Kevin Durant.

The NBA reacted to de Blasio’s tweet. Spokesperson Mike Bass told Newsweek:

“Public health authorities and team doctors have been concerned that, given NBA players’ direct contact with each other and close interactions with the general public, in addition to their frequent travel, they could accelerate the spread of the virus.

“Following two players testing positive last week, others were tested and five additional players tested positive. Hopefully, by these players choosing to make their test results public, they have drawn attention to the critical need for young people to follow CDC recommendations in order to protect others, particularly those with underlying health conditions and the elderly.”

De Blasio Criticized for Lax Stance on Coronavirus

Of course, de Blasio may not have been the best messenger for the coronavirus outrage. He has faced criticism for not taking the outbreak seriously enough and was slammed for making a visit to his favorite gym at the Prospect Park YMCA in Brooklyn on Monday, just before such activities were banned.

DeBlasio defended that decision. “There’s something wrong in the world where this kind of very small matter gets blown up like that by people, you know, who live in a world of public relations,” de Blasio said. “I don’t live in that world. I live in the regular world.”

A report in the New York Times said that de Blasio had resisted issuing the order to shut down all New York bars and restaurants and close the city’s schools. De Blasio had urged New Yorkers only last week to continue their daily lives and did not have his mind changed on the matter until Sunday.

The paper reported: “There had been arguments and shouting matches between the mayor and some of his advisers; some top health officials had even threatened to resign if he refused to accept the need to close schools and businesses, according to several people familiar with the internal discussions.”

De Blasio did dispute that anyone had threatened to quit, but he was obviously slow in taking coronavirus as seriously as it should be taken.

READ MORE: Carmelo Anthony on NBA Player Finances: ‘It’s Going to Get Really, Really Bad’