PBA to opt for semi-quarantine paradigm

The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) is inclined to use the semi-quarantine model of the German football league Bundesliga once the teams resume conditioning practices.

Public health expert Dr. Tony Leachon, a former Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases adviser, suggested that the bubble concept implemented by the National Basketball Association (NBA) is appropriate for the PBA.

Leachon expressed his reservations about the PBA’s proposed “closed-circuit system” during Noli Eala’s Radyo Singko program “Power and Play” on Saturday.

But PBA Commissioner Willie Marcial said the situation of the PBA is different than that of the NBA’s.

“Maganda naman talaga (NBA bubble concept) pero sinasabi ko nga sa ‘yo effective din ‘yung Bundesliga na semi-quarantine (I agree that the NBA bubble concept is good, but Bundesliga’s semi-quarantine method is effective too),” Marcial told The Manila Times in a phone interview on Saturday.

In Bundesliga’s closed-circuit system, the players, coaches, officials and staff follow a house-to gym-to-venue routine during the duration of the closed-door tournament under the monitoring of a health officer.

“Very successful naman. Eh may laro pa ‘yun [Bundesliga] pero ‘yung [PBA] sa atin wala pang mga scrimmages and social distancing pa rin tayo (That model is very successful considering they are already conducting games, while we don’t even have scrimmages),” added Marcial.

Marcial said everything was dependent on the discipline and honesty of the players and everyone involved in the league.

The PBA’s conditioning practice restart as well as the swab tests of personnel were put on hold after the government reverted Metro Manila to modified enhanced community quarantine from August 4 to 18 due to the rapid increase of Covid-19 cases.