Utah Department of Health Official Comments on Effect of Rudy Gobert Touching Reporters' Microphones
Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert appears to be patient zero in the NBA for coronavirus. He was confirmed to have preliminarily tested positive for the COVID-19 virus Wednesday night, and that caused the entire NBA to make the major decision to go on indefinite hiatus right away.
A now-infamous clip continues to circulate depicting Gobert touching a while row of media microphones and recording devices front of him earlier this week at a press conference at which attending reporters already had to stand further away from the podium than normal. Gobert testing positive now has these media members concerned, espeically those who grabbed the devices he had touched.
The Utah Department of Health has now released a statement attempting to ease these concerns.
Rudy Gobert touched all of the microphones in front of him days before testing positive for coronavirus.
— Sporting News (@sportingnews) March 12, 2020
Here's what the Utah Department of Health has to say about how that impacts the reporters who were at the press conference: https://t.co/qCxQ3QCtRx pic.twitter.com/dXA8PtlYys
The statement explains how the Gobert situation is considered a "low-risk exposure." A higher risk would come from standing close to Gobert for several minutes and shaking his hand, or giving him a high five. The good news from this is that the reporters were at least six feet away, which the statement explains as a safe distance from a confirmed case of the virus.
This is the video of Rudy Gobert touching all the microphones and potentially infecting innocent people with Coronavirus pic.twitter.com/hqae652PLX
— Abdul Memon (@abdulamemon) March 12, 2020
The reporters in attendance still have a right to be concerned. Hopefully, Gobert's thoughtless act did not spread the virus to those simply trying to do their jobs and cover the Jazz.