ANGELES CITY – The PBA pool of referees in the Philippine Cup bubble has been cut into half after one of their colleagues was classified a ‘probable case’ upon testing positive for COVID-19.
From a 16-man crew, the game officials are now down to eight as the first and second layers of officials who came in contact with the asymptomatic referee have already been isolated.
The referee who tested positive has since been taken to the New Clark City (NCC) quarantine facility after the result of his swab testing came out late Tuesday night.
Even if his second swab testing result yield a negative result, the referee will still have to remain quarantined at the NCC facility for the next 14 days as per the Clark Development Corp. (CDC) protocol.
The development left the league with only eight referees to call the upcoming games on a daily basis until Saturday. Doubleheaders are being played everyday at the Smart 5G-powered Angeles University Foundation gym.
Earlier, the pool of officials were reduced to just 15 following the decision of the Commissioner’s Office to send home veteran Sherwin Pineda for committing a costly endgame mistake in Rain or Shine’s 70-68 win over NorthPort last Sunday.
But three more referees are expected to come onboard the Clark bubble by Sunday pending the completion of their five-day isolation after undergoing swab testing procedures in Manila.
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