(Reuters) – The National Basketball Association (NBA) has shortened the quarantine period for vaccinated players and coaches who test positive for COVID-19 to six days from 10, provided there is no risk of them infecting others, ESPN reported on Monday.
Several NBA games have been postponed due to rising cases, with ESPN reporting that more than 200 players were in health and safety protocols, prompting the league and players’ body to agree to the change.
Six head coaches — including Phoenix’s Monty Williams and Portland’s Chauncey Billups — have also entered protocols, according to U.S. media reports.
ESPN, citing unnamed sources, said that the changes, which were listed in a memo to teams, were based on research and data that indicated no one with a cycle threshold (CT) over 35 had shown to be infectious again after five or six days.
It added that CT measures how many times a test has to cycle to find the novel coronavirus.
The NBA’s announcement on revised COVID-19 rules comes on the same day U.S. health authorities shortened the recommended isolation time for asymptomatic cases to five days from the previous guidance of 10 days.
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
