Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert of Saint-Quentin, France lost his sense of smell and is having a difficult regaining his ability to taste as he recovers from Coronavirus according to Sophia Rooke of givemesport.com on Thursday. Gobert was the first professional athlete in North America to be diagnosed with Coronavirus on March 11.
Prior to the game between the Utah Jazz and Oklahoma City Thunder 15 days ago, Thunder head medical staffer Donnie Strack sprinted on to the court at Chesapeake Energy Arena to notify the referees that a player on the Jazz had been diagnosed with Coronavirus. After a lengthy discussion it was determined that the Jazz and Thunder could no longer proceed. A day later it was determined that Jazz star shooting guard Donovan Mitchell of Elmsord, NY also had Coronavirus.
After hearing about Gobert’s Coronavirus, the National Basketball Association put the regular season on hiatus effective immediately. The National Hockey League and many other professional sports followed.
Once it was determined that Gobert had been diagnosed with Coronavirus, he was the subject of some criticism. The reason is because Gobert did not take Coronavirus lightly following a press conference prior to a game between the Jazz and Toronto Raptors on March 9. After speaking to reporters, he made light of Coronavirus by touching many recorders of reporters, which were placed on a table in front of Gobert.
It would be two days later Gobert became ill. Following his diagnosis, Gobert has been doing his best to try and save his damaged public image. He apologized to people on Instagram he may have affected, and donated $500,000 to assist Coronavirus related relief services in the state of Utah, Oklahoma and France.
Gobert’s home country of France has been deeply impacted. To date there are 29, 155 cases and 1,696 deaths. The Coronavirus pandemic is absolutely dreadful and all people throughout North America need to self isolate now.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
