Adrian Wojnarowski And The Danger Of Blaming Gobert

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The Utah Jazz have two players who have tested positive for coronavirus. First, as the team was preparing to face the Oklahoma City Thunder Tuesday night on the road, a positive preliminary test from center Rudy Gobert caused an abrupt postponement of the game.

After the entire team was tested Wednesday night, it was reported that Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell had also received a positive test for the virus.

ESPN’s basketball writer Adrian Wojnarowski took to Twitter to report the news, while also seeming to point the finger at Gobert for the team’s exposure.

Jazz star Donovan Mitchell has tested positive for the coronavirus, league sources tell ESPN. Jazz players privately say that Rudy Gobert had been careless in the locker room touching other players and their belongings. Now a Jazz teammate has tested positive.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) March 12, 2020

It’s likely true teammates have been concerned with their exposure to coronavirus. Players may have even reached out to Wojnarowski to express their frustrations. Jazz forward Joe Ingles threatened to walk out of a postgame press conference Monday night when a reporter coughed in the conference room where the interview was being held.

During Monday’s shootaround, Gobert jokingly touched each microphone that was positioned on the podium in front of him as if to ignore the warnings from health professionals around the league.

It was careless and it was stupid, but as of Thursday morning, no reporter in the room, including myself, has reported any COVID-19 symptoms.

But Wojnarowksi didn’t stop at saying Jazz players were frustrated with Gobert’s behavior, he indirectly implied that as a result of the French center’s behavior, Mitchell had also tested positive.

That line of thinking might be logical if Gobert and Mitchell had been isolated together with a clear understanding that Gobert was the first player to contract the virus. But at this point, that isn’t the case.

This is a wreckless and irresponsible tweet. Rudy didn’t know he had Coronavirus and never did anything maliciously. Now Rudy is receiving hate and vitriol he doesn’t deserve when we should be concerned about the health of Rudy, Donovan and all that’ve been around them. https://t.co/5Sj8adyhaz

— Jeremiah Jensen (@JJSportsBeat) March 12, 2020

The Centers for Disease Control says that symptoms from the virus may first emerge up to 14 days after exposure, meaning both Gobert and Mitchell could have potentially been exposed to the virus at any point within the last two weeks. In the last 14 days, the Jazz have played the Washington Wizards, before traveling to Cleveland, New York, Boston, and Detroit, before returning home to face the Toronto Raptors.

As of Thursday morning, Ohio has between one and five reported cases of coronavirus, New York has well over 200 cases, Massachusettes has 95 reported cases, and Michigan has between one and five.

Along the way, that means both players have made stops in countless restaurants, hotels, airports, busses, and airplanes. Their luggage has been handled by team and airport employees at each stop in their travels as it’s unloaded from planes and onto busses and moved from busses to locker rooms. Meals have been prepared by any number of hands, those hands have been touched by any number of hands.

It’s possible Gobert is the source of exposure within the Jazz lockerroom, however, at this point, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, no other players or team employees beyond Mitchell have tested positive for the illness.

Sources: Donovan Mitchell was the only Jazz player/personnel to test positive for coronavirus out of 58 tests administered on Wednesday night. Remaining tests came back negative.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) March 12, 2020

To identify one player as the source for the exposure, without providing additional confirmation of where or when either Mitchell or Gobert were infected puts one player firmly in the crosshairs of public vitriol.

Gobert was already the target of panicked NBA fans across the league after the league announced that the season had been postponed. For the league’s most prominent online personality, with more than four million twitter followers, Wojnarowski’s implication of guilt on Gobert’s behalf without sharing further information about the team’s exposure is misguided.

Rudy Gobert did, quite literally, maybe the dumbest thing a professional athlete has ever done.

— Joe Dolan (@FG_Dolan) March 12, 2020

At best, it prematurely accuses Gobert of purposefully exposing teammates to the virus. At worst, it further promotes negative stereotypes aimed at international travelers as a danger to our wellbeing and as the cause of the illness.

Identifying potential high-risk areas is a valuable safety measure, quarantining those who have fallen ill is good for the greater public health. But placing the target on the back of one individual as patient zero in a potential leaguewide outbreak, amid a true worldwide pandemic only draws attention away from preventative measures by focusing the blame on an individual who has fallen ill.

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How Do I Prevent It?

The CDC has some simple recommendations, most of which are the same for preventing other respiratory illnesses or the flu:

• Avoid close contact with people who may be sick
• Avoid touching your face
• Stay home when you are sick
• Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue and then throw the tissue in the trash
• Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after going to the bathroom, before eating, and after blowing your nose, coughing or sneezing. Always wash your hands with soap and water if your hands are visibly dirty.
• If soap and water are not readily available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol.

The CDC does not recommend wearing a facemask respirator to protect yourself from coronavirus unless a healthcare professional recommends it.