Madison Square Garden Company CEO James Dolan tests positive for COVID-19

The executive chairman of Madison Square Garden Company, the owner of the NBA’s New York Knicks, and NHL’s New York Rangers, James Dolan has tested positive for the deadly coronavirus. According to the Twitter announcement made by Knicks PR on March 29, Dolan has been placed under self-isolation and is currently witnessing “little to no symptoms” of COVID-19. Both the NBA and the NHL had suspended their seasons earlier in March due to the unprecedented outbreak of deadly coronavirus outbreak. 

Dolan is the first United States major pro sports owner known to have tested positive of COVID-19 and also owns other venues like Radio City Music Hall, The Hulu Theatre and The Chicago Theatre. The announcement of him testing positive of coronavirus came as New York emerges as the new hotspot of the deadly pathogen. While all 50 states of the US have reported some cases of COVID-19, New York has confirmed over 52,000 cases and over 700 fatalities.

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7,300 coronavirus patients in NY

According to reports, at least 7,300 people were in New York hospitals on March 28 including at least 1,800 in intensive care. Most patients of the coronavirus show mild or moderate symptoms including fever, cough, but also milder cases of pneumonia, which require hospitalisation. The risk of death is reportedly greater for older adults and people with other health problems. Meanwhile, multiple NBA players have tested positive including Kevin Durant of the Brooklyn Nets and Marcus Smart of the Boston Celtics who announced his positive test results on March 19. 

The NBA had been shut down since March 11 since Rudy Gobert became the first player in the league to have tested positive of COVID-19. Later, Donovan Mitchell and Christian Wood from the NBA teams also tested positive. All players have now reportedly recovered.

The coronavirus, which originated in China in December 2019, has now claimed over 30,883 lives worldwide as of March 29. According to the tally by international news agency, the pandemic has now spread to 199 countries and has infected at least 664,103 people. Out of the total infections, 142,361 have been recovered but the easily spread virus is continuing to disrupt many lives. Major cities have been put under lockdown in almost all countries, and the economy is struggling. 

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