Coronavirus Update: Warriors Star Steph Curry Confirms COVID-19 Test During Star-Studded Online Chat
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- Golden State Warriors star Steph Curry teammed up Thursday with Dr. Anthony Fauci for an online Instagram Live on the deadly coronavirus outbreak for at least 65,000 of his followers including former President Barack Obama.
Curry and his teammates are currently sidelined by a suspension of the NBA season after several players have tested positive for the virus including former teammate Kevin Durant.
The Warriors star had his own COVID-19 scare in early March. Curry came down with serious flu-like symptoms that forced him to miss a game on March 7 and also forced Warriors officials to quickly send out an email deflating any talk of the two-time MVP having the coronavirus. Days later, the NBA season was suspended when Utah center Rudy Gobert tested positive for the illness.
On Thursday's chat, Curry revealed for the first time he had been tested for the virus.
"I myself, I had flu-like symptoms, two days before the NBA shutdown, and I got a test pretty much right away," he told the online audience. "And I know there's a conversation now about the overall accessibility of tests and how those are starting to roll out in different parts of the country."
The Warriors have been one of the few NBA teams not to test all its players. At least that was the case earlier this month.
"We've been told that testing's in short supply," Golden State general manager Bob Myers said in the conference call with reporters. "We're treating ourselves like people, which is what we are. We're not better than anybody. We're not worse. We're just a basketball team, like any company. Right now, we're not interacting with anybody. I've been told by our doctors that we shouldn't be testing asymptomatic people in California."
The Warriors star and Dr. Fauci -- the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases -- who has become a media star himself over the last month with his appearances at Washington news conferences.
So Thursday was an all-star pairing of sorts to get the word out to everyone, particularly, millennials to take the current outbreak and need for social distancing seriously.
"What we're starting to see is people who are younger, young, healthy, vigorous, who don't have any underlying conditions, who are getting seriously ill," Fauci told the online audience. "It's still a very, very small minority, but it doesn't mean that young people like yourself should say 'I'm completely exempt from any risk of getting seriously ill.' "
The audience for the chat had an all-star feel of its own. Former President Obama -- who posted a waving emoji, the rapper Common, singer Justin Bieber and former Golden State Warriors teammate Andre Iguodala were among those who logged on.
Curry concluded the chat saying -- "Information is power and this is such a timely conversation I think in terms of what we can do."