Amid all the uncertainties saddling the resumption of sports in the shadow of the coronavirus, this much seems clear: Bubbles work. How long they will remain in use is another question.

While a spreading coronavirus outbreak has threatened to derail the abbreviated season in Major League Baseball, which elected not to sequester its players when it began play last week, it has been hard to ignore how serenely play has continued inside American sports’ so-called bubbles, the tightly controlled campus environments where some leagues have elected to operate.

The National Women’s Soccer League completed a virus-free monthlong tournament inside a Utah bubble — albeit after one team dropped out before arriving because of an outbreak. Major League Soccer, after losing two teams during its own early stumbles, has not recorded a positive test since July 10 at its enclosed setup in Florida.

The pattern has continued with the N.B.A., which restarted its season on Thursday at Walt Disney World and has not logged a case since July 13, and the W.N.B.A., which opened play last weekend and recorded its last positive test back on July 9. The N.H.L. will have similar hopes of safety when it returns to play this weekend inside two bubble sites in Canada.

Source: New York Times

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