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The NBA has announced new COVID-19 vaccination guidelines for the 2021-22 season. Individual teams (including the Trail Blazers) have been releasing their new COVID-19 protocols for fans entering the stadiums. Most are requiring proof of vaccine or a current negative COVID test result. Now the NBA will take it one step further and require all personnel that have interactions with players to be fully vaccinated. The news comes from a Shams Charania tweet.
Sources: Any NBA team, arena and personnel whose role involves interactions with players and referees will be required to be fully vaccinated to have in-person interactions for the 2021-22 season — including coaches, front office and medical/equipment staff.
Charania followed up, specifying that personnel included in this mandate will be, “Coaching staff, medical/performance staff, equipment, front office, player development, team/arena security, PR, social media, scorer’s table, attendants.”
The NBA 2021-2022 regular season is set to begin on October 3.