The NBA plans to launch an ambitious aspect of its league-wide contact tracking program, requiring players and many team members to wear sensors during all activities hosted by the team outside of games beginning Jan. 7. , according to a league note obtained by ESPN.
Only Level 1 and Level 2 persons, the names set out in the league’s health and safety protocols, which include specific players and staff members, such as coaches, will be required to wear Kinexon SafeZone contact devices on team buses. during training and to and from the arena or home training facilities in connection with the team trip, the note says.
Failure to use the sensors is subject to discipline, but it is not clear what it could be. Players are not required to use the sensors during games or at the team hotel when traveling.
A trial period of the program began on December 23 and is expected to take place on January 7, according to another league note obtained by ESPN.
The sensors do not record the GPS location and will activate when approaching, defined as 6 feet, another person wearing one, a point that NBA health officials have pointed out to allay concerns about whether they will be monitored. individual movements. The device’s “proximity alarm” feature, which was active in the balloon in Orlando, Florida, is expected to be turned off this season.
The note states that the sensors will record the “distance and duration of interactions in person” with other people wearing a sensor, which the NBA believes will help analyze contacts in cases of positive coronavirus. Such reviews will also include interviews with players and staff members, as well as an examination of the images from the cameras at the team’s premises, to better understand who might have been exposed to an infected person.
A health official with direct knowledge of the situation noted that the sensors should significantly help better determine the players or staff who may need to be quarantined if the situation arises.
“We don’t want to have to unnecessarily quarantine someone who shouldn’t be,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
This effort is a collaboration of the NBA, the players’ union and medical officials, and the officials involved believe that it should serve proactively to identify situations in which staff members and players interact in the immediate vicinity, frequently leading to problems in the event of an outbreak. an infection.
“We hope it can be used not only when there are cases, but proactively to try to reduce contacts even before there are cases,” said NBA senior vice president David Weiss, who worked with union officials. of players and medical experts during the pandemic, at ESPN.
The NFL used these sensors during its season, and the NBA did so voluntarily in Orlando, and people often wear them on a string. A league note says there are options for players and staff members designated to wear the sensors, including a belt, bracelet or other wearable device, although players must wear the sensor at the waist on the front of the shorts during training.
It has been said that respect among players is strong in Orlando, but keeping a season in the environment during the coronavirus pandemic creates many opportunities for infection. As such, the NBA believes that requesting sensors is a necessary step, even if it can be inconvenient, as some team officials say.
“It will definitely have bumps on the road,” the health official said, adding that the sensors will not be used in personal time.
An NBA athletics coach described the program as “ambitious” and highlighted the differences between the NFL and NBA teams that use the sensors.
“It’s one thing to do that in the NFL, where you basically go to the same place to work every day,” the athletics coach said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “I mean, theoretically you have eight one-game tournaments a year [en la NFL]. That is far from what we do. We have to configure it and load things, distribute and collect and distribute and collect and think [en] airplanes, practices and bus trips and morning practices and evening games and an airport trip. It’s really ambitious. “
At least two staff members from each team will be tasked with helping manage the Kinexon SafeZone system, but the data recorded by the sensors will only be shared with individual leagues and teams and not with other teams, according to a league note. . The information collected on the sensors will be “unidentified” and will not be individually accessible after the 2020-21 season, according to the note.