Fourteen days after being tested for COVID-19, all Utah Jazz players and staff have completed their respective periods of isolation and quarantine and have been cleared by the Utah Department of Health.
The UDOH has determined that all Jazz players and staff, including Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert who tested positive for the novel Coronavirus, no longer pose a risk of infection to others.
Jazz players had been in quarantine or isolation since the last-minute postponement of their game in Oklahoma City and the NBA’s subsequent suspension on March 11.
Players stayed in close contact—and in good spirits—during the two weeks.
“We have a Jazz group chat that’s always blowing up,” forward Joe Ingles said.
Ingles stayed busy with his family and by starting up a new podcast, Ingles Insight.
Jazz All-Star Donovan Mitchell has kept in touch online, streaming video games with his teammates, other NBA players, and famed gamer Ninja.
Forward Georges Niang said he has been doing more reading. The big man has also been working out with his teammates via FaceTime.
“I don’t know what is going to happen with the regular season, but when they’re ready to play we have to be ready to play,” Niang said in an interview on The Zone Sports Network Thursday. “Nobody is going to use the excuse that we were quarantined or anything like that. We have to be ready to go.”
Royce O’Neale has been part of that FaceTime workout group. But O’Neale has also staved off boredom in another way: the Jazz forward has quickly become the team’s most prolific TikTok personality.
Even after being cleared by the health department, all Jazz players and staff will continue to practice distancing while limiting time outside of their home to essential activities, in accordance with recommendations by the NBA and the Centers for Disease Control.