PBA Sets Starting Date for Workouts, Hopes for September Start of Scrimmages

If things go smoothly, the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) will be back into our lives earlier than expected. That if no players will test positive to the sickness that has put the entire world to a complete stop since March. With Metro Manila now under general community quarantine at least until August 31, PBA teams, along with other sports teams that have been given the go-signal to resume team workouts can get the ball rolling anew.

Over the past weekend, the league said that teams can start holding conditioning and workouts starting August 25, 2020,  as long as no players will test positive to the 2019 Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19). 

In a statement posted in the league's website, PBA Commissioner Willie Marcial said in Filipino "I hope we'll be allowed (to hold scrimmages) but all of that will depend on where are in the virus (situation)."

 "If the number of cases continues to rise, there's the possibility that the quarantine level will go up. If the number stays steady or better yet, goes down, we'll probably be allowed," he added.

Aside from undergoing COVID-19 tests, teams are required to strictly follow health and safety protocols and guidelines that have been laid out along with the joint administrative order released by the Department of Health, the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on Emerging Infectious Diseases, and the Games and Amusement Board (GAB). 

Furthermore, the league plans to write a letter to the concerned government agencies in hopes that they will be given the go-signal to hold scrimmages by September. 

It now boils down to the result of the tests and the number of COVID-19 cases that will be recorded from here on. 

Photo is from ESPN