The NBA on Friday announced that 16 of 302 NBA players tested positive for COVID-19, the novel coronavirus.
The results were the first part of a mandatory wave of testing on June 23, as players begin to return to their markets to prepare to embark for Orlando, where the league will resume its season in a bubble in Disney World.
"Any player who tested positive will remain in self-isolation until he satisfies public health protocols for discontinuing isolation and has been cleared by a physician," the NBA's statement read.
The NBA's announcement did not specify which players tested positive. The statement also did not mention the test results for coaches or other staff members. The league's health and safety protocols for the resumption of play also included one test for household members of players and staff.
Teams are set to travel to Orlando from July 7-9 on a staggered basis. Once in Orlando, every player and staff member must self-isolate and return two negative tests for COVID-19 within 24 hours. Once on the Disney campus, players will undergo daily testing.
As of June 22, players were supposed to have returned to their team's markets to take part in voluntary and individual workouts. June 23 marked the beginning of "Phase 2" of the NBA's return plan, which requires "regular PCR testing and one serology/antibody test" for players and essential staff.
The results of the first wave of testing come as more than half of U.S. states have seen a spike in cases of COVID-19. On Thursday, Florida reported 9,000 new cases on Friday, the largest single-day increase in any state since the pandemic began, according to Axios.
The positive rate for the first wave of testing is 5.2%. ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported on Tuesday that teams were bracing for "significant numbers" of positive tests.
