LOS ANGELES – There is mounting criticism that NBA basketball
teams have been able to provide coronavirus tests to their players
despite a national shortage of testing kits.
The Brooklyn Nets tested its players - with four athletes including
all-star Kevin Durant testing positive - and on Wednesday the
majority Los Angeles Lakers' star-studded team were tested, according
to the Los Angeles Times.
"With all due respect, an entire NBA team should NOT get tested for
Covid-19 while there are critically ill patients waiting to be
tested," New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio said in a tweet on
Tuesday, slamming his home town Brooklyn Nets.
"Tests should not be for the wealthy, but for the sick," De Blasio
added.
According to data collected by the Covid Tracking Project, there have
been nearly 72,000 test administered since the outbreak. The US is
testing at a rate far behind countries like South Korea, as the
US supply chain struggles to meet the testing demand.
Meanwhile cases in the US have surged passed 7,300, according to data
compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Asked about the testing of NBA players and the access to testing for
the wealthy, President Donald Trump said that appeared to be a fact
of life.
"But perhaps that's the story of life," Trump said during a press
conference. "That does happen on occasion, and I've noticed where
people have been tested fairly quickly."