MLB and the MLB Players Association have jointly announced the results of the initial round of coronavirus testing. The league says that 31 players and seven staff members tested positive out of 3,185 total people tested.
At first glance, the ~1.2% rate of positivity is lower than might have been feared. It does not appear that any previously identified cases are included in the numbers, but the results seem generally promising regardless.
That said, the results also highlight the ongoing challenges. Nineteen of thirty teams had at least one positive test. While the idea was to catch any incoming infections before they could spread, that ratio goes to show the extent to which the virus could yet permeate the league if it’s able to gain any footholds.
Clearly, baseball isn’t out of the woods yet when it comes to successfully staging a 2020 season. But it was possible to imagine a world where a large volume of positive tests would’ve thrown up an immediate roadblock.
There are some caveats here. It is not entirely clear, but stands to reason that the league was testing for active infection. Some players may already have recovered from an infection. When comparing to nationwide numbers, it’s important to understand the distinction. Then there’s the fact that all MLB participants just undertook travel, which could pose risk of later-emerging infections that weren’t yet evident upon arrival.
Having a reasonably manageable starting point certainly represents an important first step. But the real work is yet to come. Preventing the introduction of new sources of infection will require near-universal precautions for the duration of the season.
Why can’t you just take positive news for what it is instead of finding a negative spin for it. There will be positives, but they should have protocols in place to mitigate things as they move forward
Good point. A lot of people seem to crave fear. The media will never properly post positive news.
I’m most scared of magical sky wizards, flying spaghetti monsters, brown and black people, pizzagates, obamagates and scary brown people.
Sounds as if someone has taken too many hits on the bong pipe.
why live?
This but unironically.
Nice contribution to the article Bill Smith
Lol bong pipe
Because the thing we call “the media” isn’t really a FREE PRESS any longer. They’re controlled by political entities whom only seek to divide and profit in the name of whatever vitriol they can conjure up within the nation through gaslighting fake news and pure propaganda. SICK! Case in point, MLBTR.
fox news fit your description perfectly!
Oh shut up
You mean CNN, NBC and ABC FAKE they want to bring socialism to our great country, Its really sad what’s happening, wonder how much Russia is involved in the riots?
I wonder what it’s like to feel the need to rant about politics on a baseball rumor site.
FOX NEWS
More likely Russia is bribing Afghans to kill American soldiers with the White House ignoring it.
You really shouldn’t comment on things yiu clearly can’t grasp. Your CNN regurgitation shows you are out of your depth.
It’s not “finding a negative”. Rather, it’s trying to do a thorough analysis to then make best educated moving forward decisions.
@looie, thank you! Well stated and IMO, an accurate analysis
The positive rate is far below the national average yet they choose to say that x number of teams had a positive to spin it negative. Not thorough analysis, more like digging for a negative
Not enough people are thoroughly or properly analyzing the data. Unfortunately those making decisions are included in that.
“The positive rate is far below the national average yet they choose to say that x number of teams had a positive to spin it negative.” … This is idiotic. A very natural question is to ask how many teams are affected. It wasn’t framed the other way because teams without cases are the way it’s supposed to be. The news gravitates toward the out of the ordinary and the unusual. I’m sorry that you seem to see natural questions as some kind of attack.
How can you compare this to national averages when this is the just the starting point. You assume if these prose have been distancing and wearing masks, etc., the rate will be low when compared to communities where such contains a large segment that either doesn’t believe in what’s happening or just doesn’t care.
@ Hayworth
It’s more like presenting relevant facts. Having 19 teams with a case is much different than only 5. More teams will have to follow the protocols correctly. Of the next 30 people you see wearing masks, count the number that are wearing them correctly, over both mouth and nose. Having everyone following protocol is not as sure a thing as it should be.
It’s called journalism, Michael. You’re the one making this negative. Jeff stated facts and provided an overview. I found it to be neutral, which was undoubtedly his intent.
Don’t shoot the messenger.
I’m not too surprised by the low positive rate. I’m sure the players and teams were extremely careful during this pandemic to do whatever they could to not get this. Generally it has paid off very well so far.
Hopefully this good luck continues through the Summer and Fall for MLB. That’s all you can hope for at this point.
Ditto
Hmm NBA has so more.
About as positive as this gets. Certainly could have been higher. Hoping for a 100% recovery rate, now and moving forward.
This is great news! Wait until the liberals spin it
You are really insecure
Spin what? They still need to social distance and wear masks like the rest of society should be doing. And before you scream my freedoms- ever notice how almost every business requires shirts and shoes for service?!?!
Do your part and mask up so we can have sports hopefully.
But they say nothing about pants, and I get arrested.
Now THAT’S funny.
That is funny
Do your part and mask up so the country as a whole can start to have more liberties. Sports is such a small, but important part for entertainment purposes.
While I agree with you that everyone SHOULD wear a mask, nowhere does the constitution state that personal liberties are suspended if a virus is wreaking havok.
You mean like other things to better society as a whole like seat belt laws, speed limits, life jackets, DUI laws, etc that aren’t explicitly spelled out in the constitution? Did these truly cause you to lose your personal liberties?
As far as I’m aware, the Constitution and cases interpreting the Constitution have never said that the government, businesses, etc. requiring people to wear masks during a pandemic infringes on any personal liberties. In fact, state and local governments have quite a bit of police powers to require such measures.
This wasn’t contemplated by the constitution. I’m trying to make this non-political but it’s not possible. We try to elect a very smart, educated, trustworthy person to make decisions that affect the country as a whole. Congress is then suppose to serve as a check and balance with the Supreme Court the third point in our triangle system. The constitution has been changed and can be changed again for those who try to hide behind it.
Also, the President CAN require everyone to wear a mask. As he hasn’t, control of that decision falls on each state’s governor or city mayor, etc.
You shouldn’t need that in the constitution. Everyone should have the basic common sense to understand that if you’re going to a crowded space, where a mask. There’s a reason certain places are going to have live sports crowds months before we do.
@Kayrall
Proof that common sense is no longer common. The first of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is LIFE. Being minorly inconvenienced for a temporary time period weighs very little against someone else’s life. I’m sure you would feel differently should it be your life that depended on my being inconvenienced.
I bet your American was made in Vietnam
FAIL. Try again.
Oh that’s right. It’s from Chiiiina.
I read that in his voice thank you kind sir
It really is very convenient that no matter how many life goals lazy people fail to achieve they’ll always have the liberals or Obummer to blame.
In their defense, liberals are pretty easy to make of.
Guess who separated this country with his eight years in office, one guess
Barack?
How about we call them “alternative facts”, huh ?
that seems fairly on par with previous announcements, which is a good sign regarding potential growth in case numbers within teams.
We need to slow the testing down please. If you don’t test, you don’t have a case. If you test, then you have a case.
This is true.
Yes, it’s simple logic—tests cause covid.
dictator wannabe said more positive cases were good thing. trutraitor!
DiCtAtOr WaNnAbE
Great news! That and the death rate being considerably lower than first reported, they’ll be able to PLAY BALL almost worry free.
The sooner we get back to normal, the better. The woke child mob is wholly irrelevant and shouldn’t be taken seriously until they become gainfully employed and/or pay taxes, until then their opinions are worthless. How can we tell the woke child mob? The thought of the country getting back to normal, strangely triggers them.
These are big words from a red stater who’s dependent on people he hates paying for everything to avoid living out of a cardboard box.
Exactly.
It’s time to stop being afraid of this global pandemic and time to start being afraid of Mexicans again. Or freak out about people saying “Happy Holidays”.
The important stuff. Not this childish virus.
Yep, pretty much the flu right with over 2.4 million people hospitalized for Covid at some point at an average cost of 14k per visit. And even if you go by .5% death rate, at this point a large chunk of our society will get it.
.5% of our entire population is 1.6 million. Guess that’s just the price you want to pay for normalcy.
But it hasn’t been 2.4 million hospitalizations…
The Blue States pay far more in taxes to Washington than the Red States do. But don’t pay attention to facts.
I’d like to see what the US’s GDP would look like without California and New York. California on it’s own would rank as the 6th best GDP in the World so let’s stop with the Red States bailing out the Blue States argument. BTW Paule, don’t confuse the republicans with facts – they don’t like that.
Will the catcher, umpire, and batter stand 6 feet apart?
Its ok bc the catcher and umpire wear masks lol
This^^ made me laugh
Good news hopefully it stays very low
It’s going to come down to how diligent the players are in maintaining safety protocols mainly when they are not at the ballpark. MLB can make all the rules and guidelines they want, but it’s going to take veteran leadership and peer pressure to let the young guys know that there are families and a whole team of players that they have to be mindful of.
They can do this if they are disciplined and take this seriously for two months until the season is over.
How many are actually sick? Sounds like they just tested positive with mild or no symptoms. Because they are testing everyone, they got found. It’s not killing young, healthy people.
November 4th will be here soon and we will be rid of Covid.
Right, but now they have to quarantine the positives, trace their personal contacts, and isolate the virus so it doesn’t spread. It sounds like a few might have symptoms, but they’re guarding the information pretty closely.
I am more optimistic than I was yesterday about getting a season in.
Boy are you wrong 35% of all new cases are between 16 and 38 yrs old what does that tell you, no one is invincible. Check your facts, if they tested positive they’ll miss most all ST.
Unless you’re going to claim that all those 16-38 year olds died, he didn’t say anything wrong…
I think you misunderstood. Scrapple said the virus is not KILLING young, healthy people. This is true.
The fact that so many new cases are young people is a GOOD thing, because those are the people who are most likely to survive. In fact, it looks like most young people have mild or no symptoms.
I’m I think we’re fine. Yes the gloom and doom idiots will post their BS, but it’s time to freaking play ball!!
Yes if you live in a cave your probably safe, do you wear a mask?
This is going to be a damn mess.
It will just go away, you know, like a miracle.
I hope Trout plays but its his choice, I believe there’s about ten players who have already stated they are not going to play and of course those who tested positive they’ll miss most of ST for one reason or another could be more before the bell rings
I know Trout has expressed concern, but I would be surprised if he didn’t play. I’d be surprised if any highly-paid player in his prime chooses not to play.
I also wouldn’t be surprised if teams are secretly hoping that their past-prime, low-performing, highly-paid players might sit out.
All in all such a low rate seems promising. However I hadnt really thought about it from a number of teams perspective and you make a good point there. If, at present, 19 of the 30 teams have at least one case… how does it ever get contained!? I’m as hopeful as anyone about wanting the season to start! I miss baseball very much!! But if more than half the teams are currently exposed to the virus — how is that going to be handled!? Hopefully they have good systems in place and as time goes by, by having players interact as little as possible with the outside world they can all stay safe. But it is a slightly disheartening thing to realize that it may be nearly impossible to keep the virus from infecting some players as the year goes on. Let’s just hope that if and when someone is infected — they catch it quickly enough that it doesn’t spread throughout a whole clubhouse/locker room. Because if it does that would really suck for that team — and possibly put a halt to the season which would obviously really suck!!
What about Jason Giambi?