Rudy Gobert Reportedly Tests Positive for Coronavirus
March 12, 2020
Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert has tested positive for the coronavirus, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium. According to Sam Amick of The Athletic and Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, Oklahoma City Thunder players are being tested for the coronavirus, and both Jazz and Thunder players are being quarantined in Chesapeake Energy Arena.
The scheduled game between the teams on Wednesday night was delayed and eventually postponed entirely.
Within minutes of Gobert's reported test results going public, the NBA suspended the season and "will use hiatus to determine next steps moving forward," per Woj.
The Jazz released a statement Wednesday night saying one of their players had preliminarily tested positive for the coronavirus:
Gobert was not at the arena, according to Royce Young of ESPN, but rather on standby pending the results of his test. Had they come back negative, he planned on playing.
With Gobert reportedly infected, there is the very real possibility that opposing players may have also caught the virus in the past week or so. According to the World Health Organization, the incubation period—or the time between contracting COVID-19 and actually showing symptoms—is up to two weeks.
On Wednesday, WHO officially classified the coronavirus as a global pandemic. Worldwide, at least 115,800 people had contracted the virus, per CNN.com, with 4,200 reported deaths.