Report: NBA Addressing Concerns About Healthy Players Testing Positive for COVID

The NBA is reportedly taking steps to ensure players who were previously diagnosed with COVID-19 and have since recovered are receiving accurate results from their testing. 

Per ESPN's Malika Andrews and Tim Bontemps, the NBA told teams in a memo it is adding an antibody test to the health-and-safety protocols for players and staff members who have recovered from the virus. 

"Because people who have recovered from COVID-19 can still have dead virus cells in their system be detected by tests, the league has now included the antibody test as part of its protocol for players and staff returning from the virus, according to the memo, obtained by ESPN," wrote Andrews and Bontemps.

Another reason for the added antibody test is because teams have started to worry "about the potential for prominent players to have false positive tests—particularly during the postseason," with one general manager asking the league "what would happen if a false positive test takes place on a game day."

Players and staff members are required to pass four steps in order to receive clearance to work with their teams, according to the memo: 14 days passing from either their first positive test or resolution of symptoms (whichever occurs most recently), pass two different PCR tests "at least 24 hours apart," return a positive antibody test within the previous 30 days and pass a negative rapid coronavirus test.

The NBA issued a statement Monday announcing that two out of 322 players have tested positive for COVID-19 since teams began arriving at the Walt Disney World Resort campus in Florida. 

That statement also noted that since June 1, when in-market testing began, 19 players newly tested positive for the virus and are to remain in their home markets "until they are cleared under CDC guidelines and NBA rules for leaving home isolation and joining the Campus."

Under the NBA's original health and safety guidelines, players who test positive are immediately isolated and get retested to ensure there isn't a false positive. 

If it's determined the player tested positive, he will remain in self-isolation with no training for a period of 14 days while receiving treatment. 

Teams traveled to Florida last week in advance of holding full-scale practices. The season is scheduled to restart on July 30, with all 22 teams on the NBA campus playing eight games to solidify seeding for a traditional 16-team postseason.