Clippers owner Steve Ballmer, through the Ballmer Group, has pledged more than $25MM in aid to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN tweets. The donation will help Seattle, Southeast Michigan and Los Angeles, areas that have been hard hit by coronavirus. It includes $10MM to University of Washington Medicine’s Emergency Response Fund to speed up testing for a COVID-19 vaccine. In an unrelated revelation, Ballmer said his team will lose at least $10MM this season because of the suspension of play, sports business Scott Soshnick tweets.
We have more coronavirus-related developments:
- Mavericks owner Mark Cuban suggests that fans could be checked for illness entering arenas once games are played in front of spectators, Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News relays. “It’s not hard to use thermal guns to take someone’s temperature and look for fevers,” Cuban said on CNBC. “Is it feasible? Yes, absolutely. We have to be very cautious, particularly as we try to come back. At first, we’ll play a lot of games without fans and figure it out with all the medicines that become available, we’ll go from there.”
- The BIG3 is moving forward with plans to play a quarantined reality-show tournament in early May, Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports reports. The league is partnering with the producers of the TV show “Big Brother” to create the tournament. Players and referees will be quarantined in the same Los Angeles-area home provided by the league for the three-week preseason tournament, which will consist of 16 players, Haynes adds.
- A well-known ESPN analyst is recovering from the coronavirus. Get the details here.
Ballmer and Cuban going blow for blow on whoes the coolest dude in the NBA
For all the negatives we have to say today on everything lets give these guys their dues – NBA is lucky to have these guys out front and on center stage
Cuban has a lot of negative Karma to make up for. He’s lucky he still has a team with his teams treatment of women.
Always nice when BILLIONAIRES throw pennies
at PR solutions.
25 Million is what he earns in a DAY.
Pennies…..
I completely understand where you’re coming from, but it’s also his money and he’s being very generous with his donation. I believe we should be commending him for this.
So what? It’s 25 million bucks that they wouldn’t have otherwise. Everything helps.
I can’t believe that you are so greedy that you think a 25 million dollar donation isn’t enough. Wow.
Never thought I’d be so stoked to watch the Big 3.
So “thermal guns” exist and do Not require the device touches the forehead. Nice. But a person could still be spreading before they get a temperature so, good or bad, I doubt this idea is on the table.
Despite knowing about thermal guns (pretty cool), I have to question how plugged in Cuban is. Of course I have advocated similar myself, but by now I’ll be happy if we get games with empty seats.
BTW, “pink eye” may show itself earlier than a temperature. Unofficial
You can’t make that argument then throw it out the window with a pink eye argument. No one goes around throwing farts in people’s faces.
The main pink eye argument at this stage is whether it can be used or not as a test. It seems to be a diagnostic fact among opthomologists (as in, get them a test if you see it) but the clue is not going anywhere from there; apparently it is not on the CDC radar.
Can a cornea-inspection be used along with the thermal gun in the ticket-taking process? There would not be doctors working as doormen, so can it be used at entryways by regular laborers? Can the process be mechanized (device-ized) to create a number so that a customer denial can be made that will stick?
Pink-eye/covid19 investigation would not require the usual FDC paths but must generate specific answers such as whether one eye be compared to the other.
That this indicator was originally anecdotal among nursing-home nurses (a great source IMO) about patients the days before other symptoms come on, shows who can be most helpful.
My argument I guess was that we’re not close to getting the NBA norm right now and nothing is happening in society except ways to shut down. My implied argument is why Cuban isn’t using his money and status as a televised investor to get us NBA games.
link to aao.org
I work at an outdoor concert venue (we’re pretty screwed for a while) as Operations Manager. The emails I’m getting with “high tech solutions” for our organization can honestly be the stuff of Hollywood sci-fi blockbusters. We were told early on in the crisis about thermal imaging machines, where people walk between two panels that look like the security devices at a retail store; the computer analyses some sort of body heat/infrared photo and sends an alert to the operator when a patron is “risky.” I haven’t delved into the thermal guns yet (doubt we’l be using them for a variety of reason, price being a pretty huge consideration). The “scanning panels” system was touted as being “UNDER $250,000 and up to 95% effective!”
Gee… my confidence is soaring…
American capitalism to the rescue! I could be sarcastic but profiteering can help distribute helpful devices… once it is known what that is.
Whole-body scanners seem wasteful… I’m sure inflammation can be read at some points more than others. The lungs are probably towards the end of the incubation timeline, the sinuses (near eyes) at the start.
Man, I promise you… Some of the emails I’m getting are simply disgusting. I can understand and handle the stuff regarding emergency supplies and all… but I think the worst one so far was the one from Pepsi, reminding me that “clients still need Pepsi products and we’re still delivering!”
Jorge78, have you donated what you make in day? Talk about ungrateful. You sound like one of my elementary students.