Is a Bubble the Answer?

For 5 weeks I’ve been living life in the WNBA bubble, also known as the wubble, in Bradenton, Florida at the prestigious IMG Academy. Players and team staff are quarantined, tested daily, and holding social distancing practices as much as possible. We practiced, ate, and gave medical care while getting used to our new normal without being allowed to leave the premises. Well, as much as possible around teens who were on campus for various sports camps and Academy staff who were going home to their families everyday. I guess you could say that we were separated from them as much as we possibly could, although I did find out that Academy staff were being tested every 2-3 days as well. 

I’d be foolish if I said that everything was well-planned and that the logistics were perfect from day one, but through some trial and error, and constant communication, we seem to have hit a bit of a sweet spot. For instance, every person on each team’s travel party had to take 3 coronavirus tests prior to flying out to prove that he/she had not been exposed to the virus. The testing did expose several players prior to leaving and even caused one team to delay departure due to multiple positive results. However, once given the “all clear” we were placed on a commercial flight which, from our city, happened to be a full flight that allowed for no social distancing at all. Thankfully, as a healthcare provider, I was well prepared with an N95 mask, face shield, gloves and enough wipes to sanitize the entire plane. Upon arrival, we then mixed in with the rest of the people in the airport- although by no means full- Florida had just been rated a growing coronavirus hot spot, so even a handful of people warranted suspicion. 

Once we arrived as a team at the IMG premises, we picked up our room or house keys and set out to find our dwellings for the next 4 days where we would be quarantined again. Meals were delivered 3 times a day, and grocery delivery services became fast favorites of everyone. The only time of day that we were allowed to leave was for the daily testing procedure that was scheduled by team so that we did not potentially cross-contaminate one another. After the initial quarantine period practices began for 2 weeks until the season finally kicked off on July 25.

While there have been a small number of true positive tests, most teams have stayed to themselves still, with the occasional moments of mingling at meals or the pool. When a positive result is returned, all team leads are notified, with care to protect the identity of the person to decrease the stigma. The athlete or staff member is immediately isolated in a designated off-campus hotel and tested again for the next 2 days to determine whether or not the result is true or false. In some cases, if there is a roommate or family member present, appropriate care is taken to retest and isolate them if necessary as well. 

The elephant in the room was the noticeable differences between what was shown and exposed about the NBA bubble compared to the wubble. For instance, our testing seemed to be administered using a different procedure almost daily, by different people- some getting good samples and some barely seeming to scratch the surface. The problem is that an insufficient sample is listed as “positive,” causing the individual to be isolated at a remote site and having to wait at least 2 days to obtain consecutive negative results. This has lead to missed games and practices. Instead, the NBA has access to rapid tests to be used in similar cases which can turnaround results within hours and avoid an unnecessary isolation and missed games. Let’s not even talk about how it’s taken the entire 5 weeks to get someone (2 people to be exact) into the wubble to staff the hair salon for a limited 2 week period to do hair for a couple hundred women and the male staff, while the NBA has had multiple barbers on site from the beginning, and they rotate them out every 2 weeks. The WNBA doesn’t know if/when the hairstylists will return after this initial 2 week period. NBA players can also have family members visit and go in and out on designated days, while WNBA players cannot unless they came in on the first day as a caregiver for an accompanying child. 

The disparities in services and accommodations are present and the topic of some conversations, but overall everyone recognizes the real reason we are here- to cut the risk of exposure to, and spread of the coronavirus. It is my opinion and has been for a few months now, that it will be difficult to play any sport without the use of a “bubble” experience. This takes a lot of time and effort to plan and raises multiple medical and logistical challenges. I applaud the medical professionals and team and league representatives who have labored tirelessly to make a season possible, and I believe that the NBA and WNBA have been successful because of it. Is it realistic to put all football (college or professional) or major league baseball teams into the same bubble where they only interact with one another, are tested daily, and don’t have to travel for games? Probably not. For this reason, I side with the college conferences that have decided to forgo all Fall sports. 

I also applaud the NCAA for beginning to look at possible bubble situations for men’s basketball already, and hope that they can identify locations that can adequately support the unique needs of athletic medicine, performance and education of college athletes. I’d be lying if I said that I was 100% confident that the NFL season would start without a hitch. We have seen the challenges that MLB has faced when each team has been allowed to “create” it’s own bubble at the facility. However, trusting athletes to go straight home, not have outside company or even family visit, and the many other scenarios make it very difficult to predict outcomes from day to day. The truth is that America still has way too many people who don’t take the virus and it’s spread seriously, thus the decisions made away from the facility are often based solely on self.

I’m not sure what it will take for us to change our behavior collectively so that we can eradicate this virus, but hopefully, sports can help us unify in ways nothing else has been able to do. 

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