COVID-19 vaccine rollouts, infection rates and outbreaks continue to hover over North American professional sports leagues this spring, but the NBA and National Basketball Players Association delivered more positive news related to the coronavirus on Wednesday.
Per the NBA and NBPA, only one new player tested positive for COVID-19 over the past week. As Luke Adams noted for Hoops Rumors, it's the third consecutive week NBA players recorded only one new positive result. Additionally, it's been over one month since the Association had to postpone a game because of COVID-19 concerns.
Identities of players who test positive aren't unveiled without their permission.
Elsewhere around sports, the NHL's Vancouver Canucks haven't played since a March 24 loss to the Winnipeg Jets because of a COVID-19 outbreak that has thus far resulted in 18 active players, three players from the taxi squad,and four staff members testing positive for a virus variant. It's unknown when Vancouver will be cleared to return, and there are serious doubts the club will be able to complete its full 56-game regular-season schedule.
The New York Mets underwent a COVID-19 vaccine education course on Tuesday and will have vaccinations made available to them Thursday at Citi Field after team president Sandy Alderson said on Monday that some players were showing "hesitation" toward receiving the shots. Leagues are offering to relax coronavirus-related guidelines for teams that hit a certain percentage of vaccinated personnel.
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