In hindsight, it all seemed inevitable. The cancellations. The social distancing. The quarantining. In the moment though, it didn’t. At least not for many Americans.
It was, “Wash your hands. Cough into your sleeve. It’s just the flu.”
The tremors of change were out there. SXSW was canceled. The Indian Wells tennis tournament was canceled. College basketball played in fanless arenas.
Then NBA commissioner Adam Silver, driving home from the office around 8 p.m. ET Wednesday, got word that Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz had tested positive for the coronavirus. Silver had just spent hours on a league-wide conference call designed to gather information from public health officials and formulate a plan going forward.