Confusing COVID Codes
I can't be the only one wondering what's going on with perplexing protocols. The phrase "out of an abundance of caution" is creating new skeptics every minute.
If you think the COVID rules outside of an NBA game are confusing, please tell me if this makes sense to you.
Kevin Durant was pulled out of a game between the Brooklyn Nets and the Toronto Raptors on Friday, February 5, 2021. Why? The NBA said it was because of "contact-tracing protocols."
According to the NBA, Durant tested negative three times in the 24 hours before the game against the Raptors, including two negative PCR tests Friday. The Nets were instructed to pull Durant out of pregame warmups. They said it was because someone with whom Durant interacted in the afternoon had an inconclusive PCR test result returned shortly before the game. Durant was initially held out while that result was being examined.
The inconclusive test of that mysterious ‘someone’ result was being reviewed, but Durant entered the game at the 4:13 mark of the first quarter. The NBA allows things like that to happen because the league said its protocols "do not require a player to be quarantined until a close contact has a confirmed positive test."
The NBA subsequently confirmed that the ‘someone’ the league was concerned about eventually tested positive. This led to an official from the Brooklyn Nets telling Durant he had to leave the bench for isolation at the 9:06 mark of the third quarter. You can see his reaction in the video above.
The league said, "once that test was confirmed positive, out of an abundance of caution, Durant was removed from the game."
Durant's teammate, James Harden, expressed his frustration at the situation as any other thinking person would. Harden told the media in an interview after the game:
"I feel like if we’re talking about contact tracing, he was around all of us, so I don’t understand why he wasn’t allowed to play and then was able to play and then taken back off the court," he said. "I was frustrated, especially, you know, we follow the protocols, we get tested every single day, so I don’t understand the whole thing where he couldn’t play and then he came on the court, and then they took him back. There’s just a lot going on. There’s too much going on. It's kind of overwhelming, especially when we're in the midst of a tough game, and these games are going to add up, especially if we talk about playoff seeding."
The NBA's oblique contact tracing program has limited player availability and led to the postponement of a few games this season. This has happened even when players don't return positive tests.
Think it through. What is an inconclusive test? Why not test again if they can’t determine the result? If Kevin Durant had been in contact with someone who had an inconclusive COVID-19 test, who is that person? Is that ‘someone’ part of the NBA? If so, isn't everyone else associated with that person and Kevin Durant to be kept from participating in the NBA as well? Shouldn't the NBA have considered whether that someone was a close contact before deciding that he could take the court?
What about every other player on both teams? Does the NBA's decision to allow Durant to play while waiting for a confirmed positive test from someone else put all of his teammates, their opponents, the game staff, the arena employees, and game referees at risk? Shouldn't both teams have to quarantine for two weeks since Durant was in contact with someone with a positive test result?
For those who don't know, Durant contracted the coronavirus last March. He was sidelined for three games in January while dealing with the NBA's contact tracing policy. Isn’t he immune now?
Last night's events have bigger competitive and financial implications for the league. Durant was announced as the league's leading all-star vote-getter this week. Each team, fans, television partners, and anyone betting on the game will want to know who is and isn't available before each game moving forward. What will the NBA do if another contact tracing fiasco happens during the middle of a playoff series?
I love the NBA. I feel the NBA playoffs are the best season in any sport. The level of play and competition is incredible, and the drama is captivating. I barely watched last season because of the bubble and the reality of having no fans in the arena. I was also turned off by all of the Black Lives Matter messaging—I don't need politics mixed up in sports. I guess I'll dig deeper into that in another newsletter.
I enjoy the fact that they are playing in their arenas this time around, albeit with few, if any, fans. The fake cheers and fake boos from the fake crowds are annoying, but I like the fact they’re playing games again.
In the NBA, players can play the game without masks after being tested negative for COVID-19 but have to wear masks while on the sidelines. Why? It's an idea as preposterous as a requirement where every passenger and staff have to test negative for a flight but must still wear a mask. Again, why the mask? If everyone is COVID negative, what’s the point? The same applies to the NFL. Players have no masks on the field, but they have to muzzle their faces on the sidelines when the cameras are watching them.
Events like this expose the flaws I see in attempts to fight a virus that is gonna virus. These absurd COVID protocols are perplexing. Now that there is a robust mass vaccination effort in place all across the nation, there are rules that make you scratch your head in disbelief.
The vaccine was supposed to be the end of this pandemic. Apparently not. Once you get both doses of a vaccine, you still have to wear a mask. Why? According to those who love to perpetuate panic porn, the vaccine may prevent you from getting sick, but it doesn't stop anyone from contracting or spreading COVID-19. Therefore, you have to keep wearing a mask and socially distance indefinitely until the research on shedding the virus has yielded some answers, or 85% of the world’s population gets vaccinated.
The goalposts keep moving. The fraction of people who would need immunity to extinguish the spread of the COVID-19, either through vaccination or recovery from prior infection, was initially estimated to be 60% to 70%. Now it's 80-85% according to Dr. Fauci. Fauci admitted that his statements were influenced in part by "his gut feeling that the country is finally ready to hear what he really thinks." He also recently advised Americans to "lay low and cool it" with their dangerous ideas of being happy at a fun Super Bowl party with friends and family.
So wait, people can't gather at home to watch a game, but 22,000 can gather at the actual stadium to see it in person? While I was in Fort Myers, Florida, last month, I went to a restaurant and saw this. It looks like fun!
Florida has its own rules. They aren’t listening to the people who keep peddling gloom and doom.
Wait, there’s more!
Schools should open, but not until teachers are vaccinated - or should kids be vaccinated too? Wear two masks instead of one - or is three better? Restaurants in one state should be open, but only at 25% capacity until 9:30 PM, but restaurants can stay open later at 50% capacity in the county or state next door. Other states can operate at 100% capacity.
The rules aren’t easily understood—not only for Kevin Durant and NBA fans but most of the general public. I hope people ask more questions. I can’t be the only one who feels what’s going on makes little, if any, sense.
What do you think?
Clayton Craddock is an independent thinker, father of two beautiful children in New York City. He is the drummer of the hit broadway musical Ain't Too Proud. He earned a Bachelor of Business Administration from Howard University's School of Business and is a 28 year veteran of the fast-paced New York City music scene. He has played drums in several hit broadway and off-broadway musicals, including "Tick, tick…BOOM!, Altar Boyz, Memphis The Musical, and Lady Day At Emerson's Bar and Grill. Also, Clayton has worked on: Footloose, Motown, The Color Purple, Rent, Little Shop of Horrors, Spongebob Squarepants, The Musical, Evita, Cats, and Avenue Q.
You can also follow me on Instagram and Twitter.
Thank you for echoing so many of my own questions...none of this makes sense. There are many rumors about having to show proof of getting the vaccine before going to concerts and sporting events in the future. If the vaccine doesn't prevent spread what is the point to that requirement. My daughter is a nurse and she says all the time...just wash your freaking hands. Common sense isn't very common anymore - I think if it was there might have been fewer cases/deaths, but at the same time people have to live. We all live to die...we can only do our best to make those days between birth and death something of value.
I say, take your Vitamin D, confront any exhibitionist hypochondria issues you may have, breathe unmasked fresh air 24/7, and don't go around sneezing on folks nor letting them sneeze on you. Otherwise, sane people have been getting right on with their lives all along.