Alaska's Herndon hopes players will be tested again soon
Alaska guard Robbie Herndon said the Aces are "feeling okay" after their game against Blackwater on Tuesday night was apparently officiated by a referee who has since been tagged as a suspected positive case of Covid-19.
Herndon had 21 points in the Aces' 120-82 demolition of the Elite on
Tuesday. After that game, the PBA was informed by the Clark Development Corp. that one of their game officials returned a positive result.
The referee was extracted from the PBA bubble in Clark on Wednesday morning and brought to the Athletes' Village in New Clark City, where he is under isolation.
"We are feeling okay," Herndon said in a message to ABS-CBN News. "We are just waiting to see what the PBA tells us."
PBA deputy commissioner Eric Castro on Wednesday afternoon said the Aces and the Elite will be "strictly monitored" by the CDC, with regular temperature checks to be done.
Both teams still practiced on Wednesday, and Blackwater coach Nash Racela said the Elite are also feeling well despite the situation.
The referee has returned a negative since result after an antigen test.
Herndon is hopeful that steps will be taken to also ensure that the players are free from Covid-19.
"I think we as players would like to all be retested as soon as possible, since we were in the same game as the referee who tested positive, for (our) peace of mind," he said.
"And we hope the referee is doing well and recovers as fast as possible," he added.
The referee is asymptomatic and will undergo another RTPCR test to confirm the negative result of the antigen test.
Moreover, the eight persons who were identified as close contacts of the referee have also been isolated. They will undergo another round of RT-PCR tests on Saturday as well.
Games pushed through on Wednesday night, with NLEX beating NorthPort and Ginebra routing Phoenix