NBA ‘very comfortable’ with restart venue despite coronavirus surge

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said Friday the league remains "very comfortable" with its decision to restart the season in Florida as the state battled a dramatic surge in coronavirus cases.

In a conference call with reporters held after the league confirmed details of its July 30 restart, Silver said the league would be ready to halt play if there was a signficant outbreak amongst NBA players and personnel inside the league's "bubble" at Disney World in Orlando.

Official says that protocols put in place at the Disney World campus would be sufficient to shield NBA players and staff from COVID-19 crisis in surrounding areas.

But Silver added the league was confident that protocols put in place at the Disney World campus would be sufficient to shield NBA players and staff from the worst of the escalating COVID-19 crisis in surrounding areas.

Health officials in Florida on Friday announced 8,942 new cases of the disease, smashing the previous single-day record of 5,511 set earlier this week.

Cases in Orange County, where Orlando is located, have skyrocketed to more than 6,500 from 1,800 cases a month ago.

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"My ultimate conclusion is that we can't outrun the virus and this is what we're going to be living with for the forseeable future, which is why we designed the campus the way we did," Silver said.

"It's a closed network and while it's not impermeable we are in essence protected from cases around us. For those reasons we're still very comfortable being in Orlando.

"We're never going to say there's nothing that would cause us to change our plans, but one thing we're learning about this virus is there's so much that's unpredictable.

"We're not saying full steam ahead no matter what happens. We talk daily and we're going to see how this continues to play out. But we feel very comfortable right now with where we are."

Silver meanwhile said isolated coronavirus cases which emerged during the restarted season would see players placed in quarantine.