Utah Jazz player Rudy Gobert says that he has not yet fully recovered from COVID-19 after being tested positive of the virus three months ago. 

Rudy Gobert
(Photo : NBA Website)

The first NBA player who tested positive of COVID-19 was Rudy Gobert from Utah Jazz. Following it, the NBA season was put into hiatus for nearly four months already. 

Rudy Gobert said that he has not yet fully recovered from COVID-19 because after three months of being COVID-19 free his sense of smell is still not 100 percent. 

In a published report in Fox News, the NBA player said his sense of taste has returned, but his sense of smell is not 100 percent because he cannot smell from afar. However, he already spoke to a specialist and he was told that it would take one year before his sense of smell can fully recover.

Gobert's condition could be a bad sign for COVID-19 patients who are already free from the virus but still continue to experience the symptoms and waiting for it to diminish. 

Meanwhile, despite this, Gobert still plans and intends to play for the Utah Jazz as the season resumes next month in Orlando, Florida. Utah Jazz has a record of 41 wins and 23 losses and that put them in the fourth place of the Western Conference. 

Utah Jazz will play against the New Orleans Pelicans as the season resumes next month. It will be followed by a game between the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers.

NBA's more than a Hundred Page Safety and Protocol

The NBA season will resume next month with very stringent measures to make sure that all players and essential persons are safe and are not infected from COVID-19. 

All games would only be played in one place and that is in Orlando, Florida. The safety and health measures created by the league were first consulted from medical experts including the country's leading infectious specialist, Dr. Anthony Fauci. 

In a previous article published in Latin Post, some of the highlights that all players must follow are:

  • Players must shower in their individual hotel rooms instead of the game or practice arenas.
  • Be part of a contact tracing program.
  • And that it is "recommended that coaches wear face coverings pre- or post-game where feasible."  

Moreover, NBA also added that each team can bring 35 people as part of the basketball operations group, which includes players, a senior executive, an athletic trainer, a strength and conditioning coach, an equipment manager, and security. 

Recently, it was also reported still by Latin Post that NBA is planning to allow their players to wear justice messages on their jerseys like "Black Lives Matter" or "I Can't Breathe" instead of their last names. This is in solidarity with the African-Americans who died under police brutality.

The NBA Players Association President Chris Paul said that they will also plan to contact the families of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Trayvon Martin, and others to allow the players to use their names on their jersey.

This is part of the goal of the NBA which it is to address social injustice and social inequality which will be the league's central goals. 

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