Two weeks after he became the first high-profile athlete in the United States to test positive for coronavirus, Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert has been cleared of the disease, according to a statement released by the team on Friday. His teammate, Donovan Mitchell, has also been given the all-clear, and the entire Jazz organization has undergone a successful period of self-isolation following the positive diagnoses earlier this month.
The Jazz entered quarantine following the cancellation of their March 11th game against the Thunder in Oklahoma, with Gobert and Mitchell’s diagnoses coming the next day. When the Utah Department of Health cleared them on Friday, the team had been isolated for 15 days, just over the recommendation of two weeks by health experts.
Gobert had taken a lot of heat on social media due to joking around prior to his diagnosis; he touched all the microphones and tape recorders during a post-shootaround press conference on March 9th, just before he tested positive for coronavirus.
So…here is Rudy touching all the mics following Mondays shoot around that has some people concerned… #TakeNote #utahjazz #CoronaVirus pic.twitter.com/dr4auECTr4
— Dave Fox (@Davefox2) March 12, 2020
Gobert later apologized on Instagram for being careless at that press conference. And while he did indeed act recklessly and without thought then, there was one silver lining: Gobert’s high-profile case helped turn the wheels on sports cancellations around the country. Within a week, every major league had shut down its games for the foreseeable future to help combat the spreading pandemic.
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