Vaccination and Immunization

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      Chris Paul Out Indefinitely Because of Coronavirus Protocols

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      Paul, the Phoenix Suns guard, could miss at least a part of the Western Conference finals.After leading the Phoenix Suns into the Western Conference finals, Chris Paul is in danger of missing at least part of the series after entering the N.B.A.’s coronavirus health and safety protocols.How soon Paul can return to the Suns was not immediately known. The Suns announced Wednesday that Paul was “currently out” because of the protocols and that they would next provide an update about his status on Saturday.Among the factors that will determine how long Paul, 36, will be away from the Suns are his vaccination status and whether he tested positive for the coronavirus. Players who test positive are typically placed in isolation for 10 days, but isolation time, depending on the circumstances, can be reduced if a player is vaccinated.The team did not say why Paul was in the protocol. It could mean that he tested positive, but it also could just indicate that he was in close contact with someone who did. The N.B.A. announced Wednesday afternoon that one player tested positive for the virus within the past week but, as per usual, did not name the player. It’s not clear whether Paul has been vaccinated.The prospect of Phoenix’s losing Paul, after landing a spot in the conference finals on Sunday by completing a four-game sweep of the Denver Nuggets, was the latest blow to an N.B.A. postseason rocked by a string of health-related absences for star players.With the Los Angeles Clippers announcing on Wednesday that forward Kawhi Leonard would be out indefinitely with a sprained right knee, Leonard was poised to become the eighth All-Star to miss at least one playoff game this year because of injury. That is the most in league history, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Leonard hurt his knee in the fourth quarter of the Clippers’ Game 4 victory against the Utah Jazz.The seven other All-Stars on that list: the Los Angeles Lakers’ Anthony Davis, Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid, Boston’s Jaylen Brown, Utah’s Donovan Mitchell and Mike Conley, and the Nets’ James Harden and Kyrie Irving. The Clippers said Leonard would miss Wednesday night’s Game 5 against the Jazz. Paul would be the ninth All-Star to miss time this postseason if he is not cleared to rejoin the Suns before the conference finals, which will begin Sunday or Tuesday.Paul secured just the second trip to the conference finals of his 16-year career with perhaps the best series of his career. He averaged 25.5 points per game, shot 62.7 percent from the field and committed just five turnovers against 41 assists in the four games against Denver.Paul’s only previous appearance in the N.B.A.’s final four came with the Houston Rockets in 2018 and was marred by a series-turning injury. A hamstring issue sidelined him for the final two games against Golden State after Houston had taken a 3-2 series lead. Golden State capitalized on Paul’s absence to win those two games without Paul and went on to win its third championship in four years.A shoulder injury plagued Paul through the first several games of the Suns’ first-round series against the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers. But Paul recovered to help the Suns capitalize on Davis’s limited availability and eliminate the Lakers in six games, the earliest playoff exit in LeBron James’s career.When asked about the shoulder after the Suns’ sweep of the Nuggets, Paul said, “I’m good now.”The N.B.A. began the season in December in each team’s home market rather than in another restricted-access bubble environment like the one it engineered last summer in Florida to complete the 2019-20 season because of the pandemic. During the first half of the regular season, the league postponed 31 games because of coronavirus intrusions that left at least one team in each matchup without the minimum of eight players in uniform. But all 30 teams managed to complete their 72-game regular seasons in May, and Commissioner Adam Silver told Time magazine in April that more than 70 percent of the league’s players had received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine.The N.B.A. has issued weekly updates on the number of positive coronavirus tests leaguewide and, before Wednesday, had announced three successive weeks with zero positive tests since the playoffs began on May 22. More

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      Tennis Can’t Quit Its Covid Bubble

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      The world is opening, but tennis players are still dealing with serious restrictions on their movement, and they are not happy about it.PARIS — The Parisian lockdown is winding down. During the daylight hours, the streets of the French capital are alive for everyone to enjoy once more — except the world’s best tennis players.They get an hour a day.For many professional athletes, especially those in countries where vaccine delivery is moving briskly, life has begun to return to a semblance of normalcy. Tennis players at the French Open, though, continue to exist in a state of high pandemic alert, forced to shuttle mostly between designated hotels and sites for competition or practice while the world jumps back to life around them.“It is not the best situation,” Rafael Nadal, the 13-time winner of the Grand Slam tournament, said the other day.Nadal wants to go out to dinner. He wants to enjoy a normal life. “It is not possible today,” he said. “We just wait for it.”The situation remains somewhat precarious. On Wednesday night, tournament organizers announced that two men’s doubles players had tested positive and been removed from the tournament.During the French Open, players are allowed to be somewhere other than their hotels, Roland Garros, where the tournament takes place, or a practice complex, but only for the 60 minutes that government and tournament officials agreed to as a condition for holding the tournament. After months of strict limits on their movements, some players said that even that sliver of freedom felt like a godsend.“I know, for some people, an hour outside may seem like a small detail, but at least for me it just means a lot to go out and get away from it,” said Coco Gauff, the rising American teenager who has spent most of the past three months on the road, playing seven tournaments since the Australian Open.The pandemic has created major obstacles for every professional sport. But because tennis players and the tours switch cities and countries, and sometimes continents, each week, the sport has been especially vulnerable.Coronavirus restrictions began easing in Paris in mid-May after a lockdown to slow the spread of virus variants.Andrea Mantovani for The New York TimesWhen sports sprang back to life last summer, the big concern was figuring out how to keep athletes from becoming infected and then sidelining a team or forcing an entire tournament, perhaps even a league, to shut down. Now the focus is on preventing players who travel the globe from infecting local communities. As government officials continue to tighten or even close borders, the sport’s organizers have often had to agree to a strict set of conditions to gain permission for tournaments to take place. Those conditions often include serious limitations on player movement.“This is about finding a balance between allowing athletes into these places to compete and not upsetting current environments,” said Steve Simon, chief executive of the WTA, the women’s professional tour.The men’s tour recently began offering antigen testing every two days and started to allow players who tested negative to leave their hotels for limited activities, including exercise, dining and shopping. But that can happen only if local officials agree to it.For the players, the routine is getting old. Alexander Zverev of Germany, the No. 6 seed at the French Open, said this spring that he had reached a breaking point at a tournament in Rotterdam earlier this year, “freaking out” while confined to his hotel and the empty arena with little access to fresh air.Daniil Medvedev of Russia, seeded second at the French Open, said he had found life on the road confusing these days.When he visited Moscow, everything was open and he was free to go to nightclubs and restaurants. When the tour moved to Florida for the Miami Open, spring break was in full swing, but players were confined to their hotels. Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece was fined $7,500 for visiting a Whole Foods. Now the tour is in Europe and each city has different guidelines, with some nearly shut down during periods of the day.“It’s controversial,” Medvedev said. “Depends what you believe in, depends what you think about all this, depends what you see.”It’s not clear when this all will end. In Australia, where the sport is supposed to kick off its Grand Slam season in 2022 with the Australian Open in January, Melbourne went back into a lockdown last week. Tennis officials are already trying to negotiate a plan to hold the tournament without forcing players into a two-week quarantine, which everyone arriving in the country still must observe.Tennis players and officials waiting in line to be tested for the coronavirus at the View Hotel in Melbourne before the Australian Open in February.James Ross/EPA, via ShutterstockCraig Tiley, the chief executive of Tennis Australia, said officials were “working on several scenarios.” He rejected speculation that the tournament would have to be moved offshore because Australia’s government has not said when the two-week quarantine for international visitors will end. At the moment, Tiley has pinned his hopes on significant increases in vaccinations in the coming months to ease local concerns about tennis bringing coronavirus cases to Australia, which has nearly eradicated infections by isolating itself.After the French Open, the tours shift to the grass-court season and Wimbledon, which was canceled last year. London, which has endured months of lockdowns, is beginning to edge toward normalcy since a dramatic drop in infection rates that followed Britain’s vaccination program. Pub and restaurant life is expected to have substantially returned when Wimbledon begins on June 28.Yet once again, tennis players will largely be cloistered in their hotel rooms, prohibited from even renting private homes near the All England Club, as many of them usually do. Even Andy Murray, who lives a short drive from the club, will have to move to the players’ hotel. Tournament officials have threatened to disqualify players if they or a member of their support teams are caught violating the rules.Johanna Konta, the British pro who is a member of the players council for the women’s tour, said that players understand the need for a balancing act, but that there is also a need for “giving space to flexibility, to start giving us a little bit of normality.”That is easier said than done, Simon said. Vaccinations among players could help matters, but Simon said only about 20 percent of female pros had received a shot, largely because they are not eligible in their countries or are hesitant to be vaccinated. The vaccination rate on the men’s tour is also low, for similar reasons. Roger Federer got one. Novak Djokovic, a vaccination skeptic who has had Covid-19, has refused to say whether he has been inoculated or intends to be.A period of relief may be on the horizon, though.After Wimbledon, tennis shifts to the Tokyo Olympics, where health protocols will be extremely strict. But then the sport moves to North America for hardcourt play. That part of the tour can feel like a slog to top pros. The heat can be oppressive, and many players are tiring from seven months of travel and competition.It’s unclear what will happen with the National Bank Open, scheduled for Toronto and Montreal, with Canada’s government travel restrictions and quarantines still in place, but the expectation is that life in the United States, home of a series of tournaments leading up to the U.S. Open, may be free of nearly all restrictions, even mandatory mask wearing indoors. With the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif., postponed from March to October, players have an excuse to extend their stay in the U.S. if they want.“I am obviously waiting for the week where all of this is going to disappear and none of that is going to be a part of our procedure and routine,” Tsitsipas said. “So really looking to the next couple of months. We might see things go back to normal, and I’m waiting for that day.” More

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      Why Coronavirus May Be The NBA's Toughest Playoff Matchup

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      There’s no bubble for the postseason, and players don’t have to get vaccinated. Some players have lingering effects from infections. The league acknowledged that it is “worried” others will get sick, too.The N.B.A. planned for each of its 30 teams to play 72 games across 145 days this season, its 75th. Despite a rash of postponements and injuries to big-name stars, all 1,080 games were played in the throes of the coronavirus pandemic.No one in the league office is celebrating yet.“We knew it was going to be a challenge to get through all of the games in a way that we thought kept people safe, and we’re really happy to have done that,” said David Weiss, the N.B.A.’s senior vice president of player matters. “At the same time, the virus keeps changing, so what we have to do keeps changing.”“No one knows everything about Covid,” Weiss added, “and so we’re always willing to revisit what we do.”With the playoffs beginning Saturday, here are answers to some of the questions about where things stand with the N.B.A.’s health and safety rules related to the coronavirus.Here’s what you need to know:How did the season go without a bubble?What will happen if a player tests positive for the coronavirus during the playoffs?Is the N.B.A. worried about marquee players missing playoff games because of the virus?How many players have been vaccinated?Are the protocols different for the playoffs?How are players doing after testing positive?How did the season go without a bubble?League officials have maintained all season that they did not plan to return to a restricted-access bubble environment, like the one engineered last summer at Walt Disney World near Orlando, Fla. Numerous players said the isolation was harmful to their mental health, and Commissioner Adam Silver said in May 2020 that playing games without fans for an entire season could lower revenue by as much as 40 percent.Without the bubble, and with limited or no fans in arenas, 31 games were postponed in December, January and February when teams could not meet the minimum requirement of eight players in uniform because of positive tests or contact tracing, as well as injuries. The league hadn’t postponed more than four games in one season over the past 20 years.After getting through March, April and May with no postponements, six of the 16 teams in the playoffs are expected to have crowds of at least 10,000 in the first round, including the Knicks (with a league-high 15,000) and the Nets.According to weekly reports from the league and the players’ union, 77 players tested positive for the coronavirus between Dec. 3, after training camps started, and Wednesday. In the first round of testing after the off-season, before training camp, 48 players tested positive.What will happen if a player tests positive for the coronavirus during the playoffs?The N.B.A. does not announce whether a player has been sidelined because of a positive test or because of exposure to someone who has tested positive. In either case, the player will be out for a number of days based on his level of exposure, often a week or more. (Unless he is vaccinated; see below.) This is the same policy from the regular season.A real-time illustration played out on Tuesday, hours before the Indiana Pacers hosted the Charlotte Hornets in the opening game of the play-in tournament. The Pacers’ Caris LeVert was ruled out for 10 to 14 days because of the N.B.A.’s health and safety protocols.Of the nearly 550 players who appeared in at least one game this season, 167 spent time in the league’s health and safety protocols, according to data maintained by Fansure.“We’re optimistic that what we’ve been doing will work, but we certainly can’t relax because it’s the playoffs,” Weiss said. “We have to emphasize that it’s important to keep following the protocols and getting vaccinated.”Is the N.B.A. worried about marquee players missing playoff games because of the virus?Yes.“That’s of course one of the things that we’re worried about, and it’s why we’ve first and foremost been pushing that everyone educate themselves on vaccination and its benefits, hoping that people decide to get vaccinated,” Weiss said.Breakthrough cases, in which a person tests positive for the virus after vaccination, are another source of anxiety. They are rare, but the Yankees recently had nine such cases, and the N.B.A. is not immune. Golden State’s Damion Lee publicly acknowledged testing positive after getting vaccinated.“Vaccines aren’t perfect, and that was expected,” Weiss said. “We’ll have to manage those cases when they come up. We also have to — like a lot of society is doing — recognize that vaccines and declining case rates are the path back to normalcy. But we can’t limit people’s entire lives. We’ve got to find a balance where we’re recognizing the stress and the mental health challenges from this season and try to get back to normal.”Further coronavirus disruptions seem inevitable over the next two months, but Silver has said for months that he would not push to make vaccinations mandatory.How many players have been vaccinated?In an April interview with Time magazine, Silver said that “more than 70 percent of our players have received at least one shot.”That figure has risen to nearly 80 percent for players and staff with full access to players, the league confirmed. The limit for team traveling parties was increased to 48 people for the playoffs, with a traveling team doctor now mandatory.Are the protocols different for the playoffs?League and union officials have discussed modifying some of the protocols after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said recently that people who are fully vaccinated — meaning two weeks removed from their second or only shot — no longer need to wear masks or distance themselves when outdoors or in most indoor settings.But the league’s rules haven’t changed much since March 17. In that round of updates, players were notified that some restrictions would be relaxed for fully vaccinated individuals and for teams with 85 percent vaccination rates among players and certain personnel.Among the rules eased two months ago:Quarantines are no longer mandatory after exposure to the coronavirus.Vaccinated players don’t have to test on off days.Outdoor dining at restaurants is OK.Friends, family and other guests can visit fully vaccinated players, at home or on the road, without registering with their teams.No masks are required at practice facilities for teams that have met the 85 percent threshold for vaccinations, with in-person team meetings and meals on team flights also restored.Fans have returned by the thousands to arenas across the league, though many still must socially distance and wear masks.Rick Bowmer/Associated PressHow are players doing after testing positive?Jayson Tatum, the Boston Celtics star, scored 50 points on Tuesday night in Boston’s victory over Washington in a play-in game, which secured a playoff berth for the Celtics and a first-round showdown with the Nets. Yet Tatum has also been open about needing to use an inhaler before games because of fatigue and breathing difficulties he has dealt with since testing positive for the coronavirus in January.Evan Fournier, Tatum’s teammate, said this month that his vision and depth perception were still diminished after he contracted the virus in April. He likened the way “bright lights were bothering my eyes” to a concussion.Portland’s Nassir Little told The Athletic in December that he lost 20 pounds and was in “miserable pain” after his bout with the virus. Milwaukee’s Jrue Holiday told The New York Times recently that he needed “three or four weeks” to restore his conditioning to its usual level after spending nearly two weeks recuperating in his basement.“The actual effects on my body were not fun,” Holiday said.Uncertainty about the effects of the coronavirus on the heart has also been a constant source of concern throughout the sports world. Every N.B.A. player who tests positive is given an extensive cardiac exam before returning to basketball activity, but the medical community’s understanding of the coronavirus and its potential long-term impact is still evolving because the virus is so new.In the Time interview, Silver said the prospect of down-the-road difficulties for players who tested positive “absolutely worries me,” but he added: “Based on the information we have today, I still believe that what we’ve done has only allowed them to live safer and healthier lives.” More

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      Your N.B.A. Coronavirus Questions, Answered

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The NBA SeasonVirus Hotspots in the N.B.A.LeBron and Anthony DavisThe N.B.A. Wanted HerMissing Klay ThompsonKobe the #GirlDadAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyYour N.B.A. Coronavirus Questions, AnsweredCan fans attend all games? Will players be vaccinated? Was All-Star weekend safe? Read on to find out.Fans at a game between the Knicks and the Sacramento Kings at Madison Square Garden, with limited seating.Credit…Pool photo by John MinchilloMarch 11, 2021Updated 5:49 p.m. ETThe second half of another strange N.B.A. season in the pandemic has begun.In the first half, multiple players missed several games because of health concerns related to the coronavirus, even if they didn’t contract the virus. Teams have missed games. At one point, the Washington Wizards did not have enough players to practice. Almost every team in the N.B.A. has been affected in some way.As action resumes, here is where the league stands with the virus, and other story lines to watch.Some of the questions we’ll answer:Are fans allowed in arenas yet?How many games were postponed in the first half?Are enhanced protocols still in place?How many players have tested positive for the virus?Can the Texas teams — the Spurs, the Rockets and the Mavericks — fill their arenas now?Will N.B.A. players get vaccinated?Are fans allowed in arenas yet?So far, 14 of 30 teams allow fans to attend games in varying capacities: Atlanta, Cleveland, Dallas, Houston, Indiana, Memphis, Miami, Milwaukee, New Orleans, Orlando, Phoenix and Utah, plus both the Nets and the Knicks. Some other franchises will be allowing fans soon: San Antonio (March 12), Charlotte (March 13), Philadelphia (March 14), Detroit (March 17) Toronto (March 19; this will be in Tampa, Fla.) and Boston (March 22).Will the Knicks make the playoffs?This isn’t the piece for that.But will fans be able to watch the Knicks in person in the playoffs?You got me. It’s possible.How many games were postponed in the first half?A total of 31 games were postponed when teams did not have enough players because of positive tests or contact tracing. All are expected to be made up.Are enhanced protocols still in place?They are. In January, the N.B.A. and the players’ union announced — following a surge of postponements — that players were being directed to spend their time almost exclusively at home or, if on the road, in their hotel rooms. Initially, the tightening was described as at least two weeks. But it is still in place.But didn’t they just have an All-Star Game in Atlanta?Well, yeah.So most of the league’s best players traveled to Atlanta for an exhibition game. Was that an unnecessary risk?So far, no players are publicly known to have tested positive coming out of All-Star festivities. Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons of the Philadelphia 76ers, who were supposed to play, missed the All-Star Game because of contact tracing after their barber tested positive for the coronavirus. Both will also miss Thursday’s game against the Chicago Bulls.How many players have tested positive for the virus?Beginning with the weekly testing report on Dec. 10, the first after players entered training camp, 60 players have tested positive. According to the most recent report by the N.B.A., two new players have returned positive tests since March 3.Why haven’t I seen Wayne Knight in the ads for “Space Jam 2”?I’m sorry, Mr. Knight. I can’t answer that.Can the Texas teams — the Spurs, the Rockets and the Mavericks — fill their arenas now?Recently, Gov. Greg Abbott, Republican of Texas, ended the state’s mask mandate and said that all businesses could operate without capacity limits.No. All teams must still adhere to the N.B.A.’s protocols, which require social distancing between groups of ticket holders. The Spurs will allow about 3,200 fans. The Mavericks have been topping out at 4,000, but Mark Cuban, the team’s owner, also recently said on a podcast, “We think that by the end of the regular season we’ll have full houses, because like the president said, anybody who would want a vaccine will be able to get a vaccine.” The Rockets allow roughly 4,000 or so fans.Will N.B.A. players get vaccinated?Commissioner Adam Silver has said repeatedly that he does not want N.B.A. players to get vaccinated ahead of their eligibility. He also expressed openness to players receiving the vaccine as part of a public awareness campaign.Last weekend, Silver told reporters that he was unaware of any players who had been vaccinated.“I also think being realistic, around the N.B.A., as I said, we have no plans to mandate that players get vaccinated,” Silver said. “For any sort of large scale, required vaccinations to take place, that can only happen with the players’ association.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More