With Coach Kerr out, how big of a threat is COVID to the Warriors’ playoff run?

The talk of the Golden State Warriors’ tough playoff series with Memphis had been about elbow injuries and bad knees, until coach Steve Kerr landed in quarantine with COVID-19.

With coronavirus cases rising again in the Bay Area, a locker room COVID outbreak could be as devastating as the injuries that battered the Warriors’ Gary Payton II or sidelined Grizzlies star Ja Morant. .

Just hours before the start of tonight’s Game 5, the Warriors reported that all of their players were ready to play, with none showing any signs of COVID.

Warriors assistant Mike Brown will replace Kerr on the bench tonight as he did in Monday’s 101-98 win after Kerr tested positive hours before the game. When the two spoke Wednesday, Kerr told Brown he was “feeling fine,” but the Warriors said little about whether his head coach has any symptoms from his battle with the virus.

Kerr’s return is still uncertain, said Raymond Ridder, the Warriors’ senior vice president of communications. NBA rules say you must test negative twice 24 hours apart or reach a certain CT (Cycle Threshold) value, a number that can be obtained from certain PCR tests and indicates the amount of virus a person carries. infected person.

Meanwhile, per NBA protocols, players will not be tested unless they show symptoms, Ridder said. During the surge of cases that began in December from the omicron wave, Warriors players Draymond Green, Jordan Poole, Andrew Wiggins and Damion Lee were all sidelined after testing positive.

Dr. John Swartzberg, a Warriors fan and UC Berkeley professor emeritus of infectious diseases, said he wouldn’t be surprised if at least one player gets COVID in a day or two. But that can be hard to tell if only people with symptoms are tested.

“I can see how it would be better for them,” he said, “not to do any more testing.”

While he said he’s “not advocating that the Warriors do more testing,” he said that after learning of Kerr’s infection, the team should have been wearing masks, at least on the bench during Monday’s game, and “of course Nobody was doing that.” .”

Few fans appeared to wear masks at the Chase Center in San Francisco, despite arena rules requiring everyone to wear masks unless they are “actively eating or drinking.”

Kerr himself had been seen at the Chase Center in a mask in recent days, including on the sidelines of the Warriors’ Game 3 victory on Saturday night.

In an email, Ridder said the team is following “all required NBA COVID rules and most of their recommendations.”

Those include hand cleaning, sanitizing equipment, and “testing anyone who has symptoms. We have been doing all this for months and we will continue to do so. And everyone in our travel party, including all the players, has been vaccinated.”

What recommendations is the team not fully following?

Social distancing in certain spaces, he said.

If players were following CDC guidelines and had close contact with their coach when they first started getting sick, “they should wear a mask when out in public and should get tested on the third to fifth day after exposure,” Swartzberg said. .