By Kelly Cohen for ESPN
Lauren Cox was waiting, in June, for the WNBA to return from the hiatus caused by the coronavirus pandemic. She was ready to play.
Whenever, wherever, however.
“I’m not necessarily super concerned to where I wouldn’t want to go back and play,” Cox said.
Why the question? Why, perhaps, the elevated concern? Lauren Cox is diabetic.
The 22-year-old, who was drafted third overall in the 2020 WNBA draft by the Indiana Fever, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at the age of 7. Experts and doctors all around the globe — including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — have said individuals with underlying conditions are at higher risk for severe illness after contracting the coronavirus.
Furthermore, guidelines from the American Diabetes Association state: “In general, people with diabetes are more likely to experience severe symptoms and complications when infected with a virus. Your risk of getting very sick from COVID-19 is likely to be lower if your diabetes is well-managed.”
And then one month after Cox said she was ready to play, she announced she was recovering from COVID-19 and was waiting to be cleared so she could travel to join her team in Florida, to the WNBA bubble at IMG Academy.
Cox told ESPN on Aug. 5 that she was “very fortunate” to have mild symptoms resulting from COVID-19 and she was taking all necessary precautions before contracting the virus. Nothing has changed in her approach as she now joins the WNBA bubble and her Fever teammates — saying she was already on top of monitoring her blood sugar and making sure it didn’t spike too high or drop too low. She made her WNBA debut on Wednesday.
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