NBA updates positive COVID-19 test protocols for 2020-21 season

The NBA updated its health and safety protocols for the upcoming season, releasing a 134-page document, obtained by ESPN's Tim Bontemps, to teams.

A player or staff member who tests positive for COVID-19 during the 2020-21 season must clear one of two benchmarks before rejoining their team.

The first option is time-based. The infected person would have to wait 10 days after their first positive test or at the start of their symptoms; let 24 hours pass after their fever ends without using medications; and have shown improved symptoms.

The second option is test-based. A person must record at least two consecutive negative COVID-19 tests, with at least 24 hours between each result.

However, regardless of the absence of symptoms or consecutive negative tests, anyone who produces a positive result has to sit out of training and practice for 10 days, followed by two days of masked, independent workouts.

That means any player who tests positive will be unavailable to play in a game for at least 12 days.

Teams will be allowed to provide housing where infected players can isolate themselves.

The NBA will also continue to maintain a hotline allowing players and staff to report health protocol violations to the league office anonymously, sources told The Athletic's Shams Charania. The "snitch line," as it became known as, was instituted for the 2019-20 season restart in the Disney World bubble this past summer.