Less than a week into the WNBA season, players continue to enter health and safety protocols after Mystics guard Natasha Cloud became the first player to test positive for COVID-19 this season on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, the Storm announced that two players, including star Breanna Stewart, entered health and safety protocols and were marked out for their game vs. the Mercury.
Like Cloud, Stewart blamed commercial flying as her reason for catching COVID-19 and criticized the WNBA’s travel policy preventing the use of private jets.
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“Fly commercial they say…” Stewart wrote.
The WNBA hasn’t publicly updated their COVID-19 quarantine rules, but the CDC recommends people who test positive quarantine for five days, and then continue to wear a mask for five days after. So, it’s likely that the Storm will be without their leading scorer for a few games.
Through two games of the regular season, Stewart has an average of 19 points per game.
Flying commercial has become quite a divisive issue in the WNBA, especially after the federal mask mandate was lifted for major airlines. Now, WNBA players are put at risk when they board an airplane for their away games.
The league has yet to establish charter flights for all teams, like most professional sports teams.
