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JonLP24

(29,322 posts)
Sat Jul 11, 2020, 02:14 PM Jul 2020

For NBA players who get coronavirus, potential lingering heart issues concern doctors

As NBA teams get situated in the Orlando, Florida, bubble, one question that has persisted since the start of the coronavirus pandemic is not only what happens if a player tests positive for the virus but also what lingering effects might follow.

"There are unknown effects it has on lung capacity, unknown effects it has on cardiac health," said one general manager of a team entering the NBA bubble, speaking on the condition of anonymity. "What if a 24-year-old catches it in Orlando and, in 14 days, he quarantines and is fine, but then he has these everlasting heart problems? [Or he] gets winded so easily, or he becomes a little bit too susceptible to fatigue? ... These are all the unknowns."

There is a multistep process for anyone who tests positive, and it includes a two-week period -- either from the first positive test if the player remains asymptomatic or from the resolution of symptoms -- after which a physician will make a determination that isolation can end. The player will then take a cardiac screening in accordance with criteria outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Each case will be handled based on its own needs, but John DiFiori, the NBA's director of sports medicine, told ESPN that the timeline for any player to return from a confirmed positive case is at least two weeks.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/29442358/for-nba-players-get-coronavirus-potential-lingering-heart-issues-concern-doctors

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