12:03pm: Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports that the outbreak has spread to multiple family members of the five players and three staffers.
11:35am: The Phillies issued the following statement:
In response to published reports and the questions that those reports have raised, the Phillies are confirming that 5 players and 3 staff members working at the club’s Clearwater facility have tested positive for Covid-19. The first confirmed case occurred this past Tuesday, June 16. In addition, 8 staff members have tested negative for the virus, while 12 staff members and 20 players (both major league and minor league players) living in the Clearwater area are in the process of being tested and are awaiting the results of those tests. … In terms of the implications of this outbreak on the Phillies’ 2020 season, the club declines comment, believing that it is too early to know.
Owner John Middleton added in a personal statement that the team is “committed to the health and welfare of our players, coaches and staff as our highest priority” and, as a result, the team’s spring complex in Clearwater has been closed indefinitely.
11:00am: Five players and three staffers at the Phillies’ Spring Training complex in Clearwater, Fla., have tested positive for the coronavirus in recent days, Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports reports. None of the cases have required hospitalization to this point, although the rapid manner in which the outbreak spread through camp even without a full roster and staff present, certainly illustrates the risks and complications that could arise even if MLB and the Players Association are actually able to hammer out an agreement. Notably, Salisbury adds that a “significant number of team personnel” are still waiting on results, so further positive tests are possible.
Phillies players have been working out at Clearwater’s Spectrum Field for several weeks, but Salisbury writes that despite limited group sizes and strict safety precautions, the virus quickly spread through Phillies camp.
It’s obviously good news that none of the positive tests have required hospitalization, but the sheer volume of positive cases is still an ominous sign. An outbreak like this during the regular season would require quarantine for a substantial portion of the affected active roster, and most teams would have at least a couple of older members of the coaching staff in proximity to the outbreak. The potential for spreading the virus to the opposing team at a time when multiple members of the roster are perhaps playing asymptomatically also can’t be overlooked.
The outbreak at Phillies camp comes at a time when the broad focus has been on the exhausting series of strategic leaks and vaguely worded statements from MLB and the MLBPA as ownership and players butt heads over the length of the season. So much emphasis has been placed on the financial battle that the yet-to-be-agreed-upon health/safety protocols and the very real potential for COVID-19 outbreaks in close-quarters clubhouse settings have, to some extent, faded from the discussion in recent days.
The latest report out of Florida abruptly thrusts that portion of the debate back to the forefront. And with cases on the rise in key states like Florida, Arizona, Texas and California, the potential for similar instances is prevalent. It was never realistic to expect that there would be no positive tests or even team-wide outbreaks. The goal was to limit such occurrences and prevent mass-scale infections. Still, it’s discouraging that a limited group which represents a fraction of the group that would be gathering for a full-season schedule has produced a rather substantial number of cases. If nothing else, the Phillies’ Clearwater outbreak seems likely to cause all parties to revisit even the elements of the health and safety protocols on which they’ve generally agreed, so as to ensure they are sufficient for both sides.
jeterleader
this just in no mlb season per woj
thareignman
Woj reports NBA…
jeterleader
schefty
Robertowannabe
Schefty is NFL……..try again……
jeterleader
boras
newpony13
Ding ding ding!
atomicfront
NWSL is starting up in a week. The only people not playing are the ones who make outrageous salaries.
geg42
Who makes big $ in that league?
atomicfront
No one that is why they are playing. Spoiled multi-millionaires can’t be bothered to play.
bigboybambino
Lol i wouldn’t play either. Did you not read the article, 8 people got it
DTD_ATL
Weak
looiebelongsinthehall
Wait until soccer players start to report positive tests. Sad to say the world is not ready for interactions on such a level. Their passing skills aside, the game is played to converge on the ball and no one has indicated the incubation period of when you actually have acquired the virus and when it shows up on a test. Is it instant? I don’t think so.
proof2006
9 people at my work got it. What’s your point?
deweybelongsinthehall
Is your work essential? If not, how many will those nine give it to etc.? With no cure in sight, is it worth exposing others who may already have an impaired immune system. The constitution protects all. One’s rights end when they affect another.
falconsball1993
You don’t need a damn cure when the virus has a 99.5% survival rate.
looiebelongsinthehall
Where do you get your stats from. Forget %s. Look at the number of deaths and all the work that has been done to try to minimize the number of infections.
BlueSkies_LA
Even if this was the right number (and it isn’t, you made it up), this would mean around 1.65M dead Americans. I didn’t even need to use a calculator to figure that out. The damn cure we need right now is for stupidity.
CleatusAnkletaker
EXACTLY… our immune systems are the cure.
I cannot believe amount of sheep still living their lives in fear over something that untrustworthy people are trying to instill in their brain.
BlueSkies_LA
So 1.65M dead Americans works for you?
Scott Kliesen
99.5% is the survival rate for those under 50 without co-morbidities. It isn’t a made up number.
COVID-19 isn’t the Black Plague or the Spanish Flu despite what MSM tries to scare you into believing.
paule
You did not add the qualifier about under 50 without comorbidities. And don’t blame the MSM for everything.
BlueSkies_LA
So 1.65M dead Americans works for you?
BTW I’ve already said that the mortality rate probably isn’t 0.5%, it’s closer to 0.25%. Not a “made up number” a real one. Cut the 1.65M in half and let me know if 800k dead Americans works for you. Try not to be a total horse’s backside and answer the question.
Scott Kliesen
Playing baseball isn’t going to cause deaths. However, I’m not so sure about other activities like Presidential campaign speeches and protests by thousands in dozens of cities.
BlueSkies_LA
A horse is looking for his backside.
dclivejazz
Except it doesn’t. The fatality rate is higher than that so far. Even your bogus claim would leave 1.5 million Americans dead if everybody got it.
nowheretogobutup
wow a really dumb statement thus far 115,000 deaths and counting. This is ramping up again and now its hitting many in their 30’s etc. Ignorance comes in all forms.
windmill_noise_causes_cancer
wOj BoMb!!!11!
DarkSide830
cooool
samthebravesfan
More testing means more positives. None of them will die.
whynot 2
How are you so sure?
Halo11Fan
I don’t think any will die. But if people think this is like the normal flu they are crazy.
Best case scenario, each player who gets this is out two to three weeks.
BuddyBoy
More like 10 days which is the new standard. I wonder if any of them actually are showing symptoms outside of the initial person that likely was in order to get tested.
Halo11Fan
You make a good point. They have it, they have to recover, which takes two or three weeks, then they need negative test which will clear them to return.
Players could easily be out a month. And that’s if things go well.
whynot 2
It’s not likely they will die, but the main issue is who they come into contact with who is more likely to become seriously ill.
Halo11Fan
I think you have to isolate the teams.
To me, the main concern is entire teams and leagues being shut down.
If a player gets this, they are not going to let him play. They are going to shut him down for a month.
If someone wants to look at this as a torn hamstrings being contagious, then fine. I’m not even talking life and death.
RunDMC
A friend and co-worker was hospitalized for 2 weeks with it in April. After speaking to him for the first time the other day, he’s still not 100%, and says the psychological affects of not being able to breath is the worst. He’s under 35, good physical condition and no preexisting conditions. This was the same story with another friend/co-worker with a similar background.
You may survive it, but it’s most likely going to be the hardest fight of your young life – and let’s hope you don’t give it to someone during that fight.
proof2006
If these players weren’t tested they wouldn’t have even known they had it just like the majority of people that get it.
Halo11Fan
proof2006
I’m not sure why people think Typhoid Mary’s are a good thing.
But now all these players are on the IL for weeks. It takes weeks to shed the virus, then after it’s shed, it takes a few days to make sure you no longer have it. And then it takes a few days to get back into some sort of shape.
CleatusAnkletaker
That’s a pretty wild analysis since the official recovery rate is over 99.5%. There have been a number of people at my job who have tested for having it yet recovering from it without missing a beat. One of whom is over 40 years old and has asthma. I myself may have had it and not even noticed.
It is by no means a death sentence. And if you have bad health, you have bad health. Just stay in quarantine for the rest of your life because 99.5% of the worlds population shouldn’t be locked inside their homes for the less than 1%. If we are sooo worried about saving everyone’s lives then cigarettes should be illegal for giving innocent children lung cancer, might as well take it a step further and make transportation illegal because 40,000+ people die a year in car accidents too. Death is the only thing guaranteed in life, there is no preventing the departure.
BlueSkies_LA
So 1.65M dead Americans works for you?
Scott Kliesen
I’ll take the under on that number and give serious odds.
paule
Wear a mask to protect others. Social distance. There are better ways to protect people than quarantines. There are also worse things like wearing masks in crowds. And by the way, thousands of lives have been saved by stopping smoking, wearing seat belts in cars, and helmets on motorcycles.
Vizionaire
what are today’s lotto numbers, genius?
Halo11Fan
These people are crazy,
Remember Dave Hollins, he’d die.
What about their families, they are not going to see them for months.
Mike Trout is having a kid in Aug. How is that going to work out?
This is a very complex situation and people think this is the flu.
BuddyBoy
Halo, why are they not going to see their families for months? They are supposed to prepare in their home markets and play in their home stadiums…did something change?
Halo11Fan
They are not going to play in their home stadiums. That would be insane.
It’s all about containing the spread. Unless these players are isolated, it will spread to the clubhouse.
If you want a season, to me this is all about containing the spread.
The only way you can do that is to have players give up their lives for three months.
DonB34
People in the military get sent to Iraq and such for an entire year and can’t see their families. Also don’t make millions of dollars to do it.. Also have a greater chance to die.
rct
Oh, thanks for that, doctor. I was worried that the virus could spread like wildfire through a sports league and potentially kill someone. You’ve alleviated my fears, Anonymous Commenter Who Presumably Has A Medical Degree.
Buzzed Capra
Or you could listen to good ole Dr. Fauci, who has a vested interest in vaccine production, through his role on the leadership council of the Global Vaccine Action Program. His buddy Bill Gates is already spending (or you might say investing) in several vaccine production facilities.
Halo11Fan
Mr. Capra. Let’s take life and death out of this. Let’s just call this a contagious 30 day DL stint. A player will take two or three weeks to get this out of their system, and another week of negative tests to ensure it’s out of their system. Then they can go back to their team.
If a player catches this, they are on the DL 30 days and are likely to pass it to other players, and they go on the DL for 30 days. And then if it spreads from team to team, then then you have a lot of players on the 30 day DL.
Take life and death out of it.
WiffleBall
Yes, let’s take life and death out of a situation caused by a disease that has already killed 121,000 Americans.
If you think nobody in the MLB can die from this, you’re sadly mistaken. Assuming there are 75-100 people at each game, including players, staff, stadium, TV, and radio crews, you’re talking nearly 2000 people, and potentially their families.
Not all of these people are young, fit, and healthy. Many have underlying issues, many are over 65.
What happens if a bullpen catcher who happened to have an auto immune disorder, or a 71 year old coach, died from this?
What if a player got sick, was hospitalized, and after recovery had to live with ongoing lung problems, destroying his career?
Oh, but by all means, let’s take life and death out of it, just a 30 day DL stint!
Or, we could cancel the season and wait for a vaccine.
DonB34
What if 600,000 people working at Wal-Mart had to worry about this. Oh, wait….. they do. And they are still at work. Just like I have been every M-F for the last 3 months at another “essential” business.
looiebelongsinthehall
How do you know? Just because their young athletes? Will they be going out to eat? Even if they don’t get seriously ill, unless they live life in a bubble, they can still pass it on despite taken precautions.
SalaryCapMyth
How many posters read what DMC wrote? Even IF you don’t die, people are walking away scarred as well. The flue doesn’t do that. But sure, let’s go ahead and hate Dr. Faucci. That sounds like a pleasant distraction.
wright4seaver
Just cancel the damn season
just here for the comments
Just cancel your username
briefgalaxy983
Agreed
Halo11Fan
I propose this. Three leagues in three states.
Forty five game season. Nine Five games series. Schedule each team in your league once.
No one plays on Monday or Thursdays. Test Constantly.
This might contain an outbreak. This might keep the players safe. And you could still end the season by the end of October.
DTD_ATL
How about stop being so paranoid and afraid?
Buzzed Capra
It’s impossible for him not to be paranoid and afraid. He needs to find a safe space like they have at the universities. A socially distanced safe space, that is.
Halo11Fan
Are you talking about me? Wow?
One side accuses me of being a snow flake, the other side accuses me of being a right wing propagandist.
I must be doing something right.
looiebelongsinthehall
Look at the increased confirmed cases in so many states. Since when is any sport essential? Why not wait this out? Easy for fans to say go play when the fans will not be exposed. I’d rather watch reruns of Barbara Eden than read that someone got seriously ill or worse because I was being entertained by live sports.
Strike Four
@DTD_ATL lol youre an anonymous poster telling another person how to live. Either talk baseball or go away.
DonB34
Millions of fans are at work everyday, and have been for months. Not making millions of dollars to be there, either.
WiffleBall
All this wrangling over a season is going to be for nothing when there’s an outbreak in the first week and they have to shut down again…
sherlock_
Start the season quick
looiebelongsinthehall
I have an idea. Elimination tournament. No time to develop ways to cheat. A member of your squad tests positive and you forfeit. Space out games so you only need two starters. Sort of like March Madness after the first week. Entire tourney takes two weeks.
BlueSkies_LA
Uh-oh. The obvious question is how they are managing this in Korea and Japan.
Vizionaire
s.korea invested heavily into infectious disease prevention and treatment after last spread of viral disease. u.s., on the other hand, cut funding and medical staffs.
Halo11Fan
Korea doesn’t have our Constitution. Korea didn’t believe China or the WHO. Korea didn’t have the CDC totally drop the ball.
We could have brought in the private sector more quickly and we should have called out China and the WHO more quickly.
aruckman
Or our leadership called this a liberal media hoax and dropped the ball
Halo11Fan
aruckerman. No they did not. Accuracy matters.
Do you also think “our leadership” said it’s OK to go to work if you are sick.
I don’t know where you are getting your news from, but it’s not accurate.
thejet
Halo11Fan – dude…
Halo11Fan
thejet.
If you are going to get political, at least be accurate. If you are not accurate, what’s the point?
You can’t have any type of back and forth without honesty.
thejet
Our leadership did in fact call this a hoax though. That is 100% accurate. Heed your own advice with regards to accuracy.
Halo11Fan
No they didn’t. He said the Democrats blaming this administration for this was a hoax. Even 60 minutes corrected the record on this.
You really need to get your news from a different source.
thejet
Halo11Fan…From the horse’s mouth
m.youtube.com/watch?v=G5TZ6fTYrsE
FYI: there is nothing political about me calling out your comment. Truth is truth.
Halo11Fan
Do you have the entire thing there? Or is it the incomplete and edited version like when he said there are good and bad people on both sides, when he was clearly talking about statues.
He was very clear. He didn’t call the “virus” a hoax. Do you think he shut down Travel to China if he thought it was a hoax?
Anyone that tells you otherwise is not being accurate.
thejet
Dude… I gave you the link… my source is the President. Stop.
thejet
Halo11Fan…Have a good one man. Godspeed.
Halo11Fan
How much did they edit the speech?
Here is a direct quote from that speech.
“we have to take it very, very seriously. That’s what we’re doing. We are preparing for the worst.”
And of course he shut down travel to China.
What you are reporting is not accurate. It’s an out of context, edited version of what he said in that speech.
looiebelongsinthehall
If you want inaccurate propaganda, watch either Fox News or CNN. Sadly they both report their opinionated agendas instead of the news.
looiebelongsinthehall
But kept travel from Europe open for two more months…
wild bill tetley
Edited clip there Jet. Stop.
Halo11Fan
I think Brett Baier and Chris Wallace are the best in the business.
I wouldn’t give two cents for anyone else.
WiffleBall
Our leadership did say that, even if you’re sick, you could go to work as long as you didn’t have symptoms. These things happened.
WiffleBall
Here’s the actual quote, HaloFan:
“Now, this is just my hunch, and, but based on a lot of conversations with a lot of people that do this — because a lot of people will have this and it’s very mild. So if, you know, we have thousands or hundreds of thousands of people that get better, just by, you know, sitting around and even going to work, some of them go to work, but they get better.”
He’s basically saying “this is no big deal, you can go to work, get better.”
That was proven to be false, because going out, being around other people, was spreading the virus. Our leadership was making policy not based on science, but by his “hunch” because he didn’t want to close anything.
And he was wrong.
Pads Fans
Did you even bother WATCHING the video? Then STFU. He didn’t shut down travel to China. 1,234,000 US citizens and their families and other people in essential positions (business and government) traveled to the US from China after he “shut down” travel.
At least TRY to be accurate
nowheretogobutup
Fox is the only true news out there forget all the others
BlueSkies_LA
I’m aware of that but what I am really asking is how the baseball leagues in these countries are managing the spread within the teams.
BlueSkies_LA
Is the thread hijack over? I am really interested to know how they are managing to play in Korea and Japan without major team infection issues.
wild bill tetley
Walk outside, ask the protesters in your town defying social distancing. Then let us know what they think. Otherwise who cares what these two countries decide.
Halo11Fan
I don’t think you can compare the two countries to the United States.
I’m sure they are doing pretty well otherwise we would have heard about it.
BlueSkies_LA
I’m not sure why you think we can’t compare, but that wasn’t my question anyway. Those other countries are seemingly able to play baseball and avoid outbreaks. We can’t seem to even get a few members of a team into the same building without one. Are you saying nothing to be learned here?
wild bill tetley
If you want to answer your own question, take a look at the breakdown of cases vs. population vs. death in all 50 states and analyze the percentages and discrepancies. You do not have to look at two countries across the ocean with a different lifestyle to figure it out.
Mariner22
Japan has had ~ 17K cases since COVID began. South Korea had 12K.
California had 4K just yesterday.
Apples and oranges.
BlueSkies_LA
The virus is still present in those countries and whether the infections are as extensive or not they’ve somehow managed to keep it out of the baseball community. This means they are doing something we are not. More than one thing, probably. What are those things?
Pads Fans
In both areas the players are quarantined. They and their families if they choose are housed away from everyone else and will be through the end of the season. They are tested daily. Their temperature is taken as they enter and leave their housing and as they enter and leave the stadium. They have apps on their phones that track every movement and contact.
BlueSkies_LA
That was the sort of information I was after, thanks. We can be sure most of these protocols could not be implemented here.
ThePeople'sElbow
Well it’s FLA, duh.
troll
floriduh
whynot 2
And there goes the season
Ancient Pistol
Even if they start the season I doubt it will finish.
gvnbuist
I’m sure there are thousands of people who have it or have recovered from having it without testing.
Testing just isn’t setup on every street corner.
If the decision-makers weren’t such incompetents, they should have been almost a month into a real season of 100 or so games by now.
BlueSkies_LA
Probably millions, but otherwise your point is pointless. The virus doesn’t care whether a person is tested or not, they still have the ability to spread the virus. A person who has the virus and doesn’t know they do can spread it even more than someone who does know. Hey, maybe that’s why it’s called a contagious disease?
Halo11Fan
BlueSkies_LA
Right… people think tens of thousands of Typhoid Mary’s spreading this is a good thing.
Halo11Fan
Right… It’s just the normal flu… sarcasm.
Flu you are out two days, this virus you are out two to three weeks.
atomicfront
I was sick for a week with the flu. Type A flu is pretty serious stuff.
Halo11Fan
Players get immediate medical care.
When we get the flu, we let our bodies handle it and we only seek medical care when/if we get really sick.
Simple Simon
You don’t HAVE to get it, at this point, with any awareness, it is close to 100% avoidable.
Not 100%.
For 8 to have it (and how many more?), there’s some pretty close contact.
All chewing the same wad?
Halo11Fan
It’s not close to 100% avoidable.
BlueSkies_LA
Uh, no. If you share enough air in an enclosed space with an infected person you stand a good chance of becoming infected yourself. If the infected person coughs or sneezes in your proximity, you stand a good chance of becoming infected yourself. Sure a person can do a lot to reduce their chances of contracting the virus but all of them added up together do not come close to 100 percent.
Halo11Fan
Blue skys, if you talk to a person and spew saliva on their face they could get it. It’s pretty easy to pass.
Mask are to protect you from spreading the virus, not to protect you from getting the virus.
BlueSkies_LA
But then, I’d already said that.
baumann
Normally there is no need to hog the wad. But under the current circumstances one must HOG THE WAD.
SalaryCapMyth
This is a great example of misinformation. Someone mindlessly posting a percentage that is obviously fictional because almost nothing is ever 100% but hey, Simon, if you can post a source that validates this I will publicly apologize.
Halo11Fan
And there is your problem which the Players Union doesn’t care about. If a player gets this they are out two or three weeks. If teams get this, the team is shut down. If a league gets this, there is no baseball.
You need long series and days off to prevent the spread and keep it isolated. You can’t just shuttle teams from one series to the next without a day in between. Testing needs to be done constantly.
rct
Exactly. And if a few teams get it, the odds of someone actually dying go up as well. Pretty sure the players would be pretty mad at their union if one of them died.
atomicfront
Didn’t a player die in a car crash on the way to the game once. You take some risks but for their age and health the odds of one of them dying are pretty remote.
Halo11Fan
A lot more than once. And the Angels had one of their bus crashes where many players were injured and Buck Rodgers almost died.
But there are risks and there are risks. You have to have a little wisdom in understanding which risks are more dangerous than others.
lowtalker1
Several have.
proof2006
The Angels also obtained drugs for a player that he then overdosed and died from
Halo11Fan
proof2006
No they didn’t. Anymore than McDonald’s obtained drugs for one of it’s employees because another one of it’s employees sold an employee drugs.
It’s not an honest leap.
rct
“Didn’t a player die in a car crash on the way to the game once.”
I have no idea what this has to do with an easily spreadable virus. So, one player in the history of baseball died on the way to a game once. What exactly does this have to do with COVID?
But to indulge this non-sequitur, according to Wikipedia, there is just over 1 death per every 100 million miles of vehicle travel every year (about 35,000 deaths total in 2018–we drive an awful lot).
COVID has–already–120,000 deaths in the US in 2020. And that’s with all of the shutdowns and precautions and masks, etc. And many states are, right now, setting new records for cases on a daily basis. Playing baseball seems needless and reckless.
looiebelongsinthehall
Not just the healthy young athletes. What about the older coaches and managers? How about the training staff and equipment managers, etc.?
Halo11Fan
Great point, there are so many more people than just players.
Just at it’s basic level of keeping players on the field is a huge undertaking.
Coaches are at real risk.
deweybelongsinthehall
I just don’t get it. I’m as passionate a Sox fan as there is but if the season can’t get played, so be it. I’m more worried about the sides not trying to look at next year. They should be working on a new CBA now with built in kickers and vontingencies. The pandemic should have forced the sides together. I still say allow an outside agency to go through the books and the union agrees to a floor and ceiling based on either a sliding scale rate. The more the league earns the higher % they get to set the floor and ceiling. if there’s another pandemic, a percentage kicker is added to existing contracts and thus the floor and ceiling can be lowered, etc.
lowtalker1
Who are the players? I’m curious.
ABCD
HIPAA probably trumps your need to know.
atomicfront
They won’t release their names due to HIPAA rules.
lowtalker1
Hippa… that’s funny. Watch this information get leaked. Hippa never survives… just ask zek
roguesaw
Pretty sure Hippa waivers are in the CBA, otherwise players could sue every time a team releases why a player hit the DL.
ABCD
Injuries that happen as part of their job? Probably. I doubt illnesses are covered. Its up to the player to disclose it.
rct
You will only know this if the players themselves report it to the public.
NY_Yankee
Both the owners and players should stick a fork in the season. Owners are not recouping losses and players are not winning in arbitration.
123redsox
Proceed at your own risk. Players and coaches that do not play do not get paid or get paid s portion, but are also not fined or anything.. this would certainly force some young bucks up in the majors and we would see guys really hustle and compete for playing time
rememberthecoop
All this talk about money and number of games when the virus may not even let this happen! If it spreads this quickly in a baseball camp, imagine how much riskier it might be in the NFL given the nature of how that game is played and practiced, the closer proximity of the players to each other.
HubcapDiamondStarHalo
And the sheer size of the roster and coaching/support staff.
lettersandnumbersonly
What are Vegas odds on a season?
They are usually more accurate than most
66TheNumberOfTheBest
I said awhile back that this years Stanley Cup Final could be between, say, the Dallas Stars and the Providence Bruins.
In MLB terms, you could see a World Series between the NY Yankees and the Oklahoma City Dodgers.
lowtalker1
Why not just sue China and get it over with? Or go to war with them and take their country for the global pandemic
Ancient Pistol
How are you going to “take” a country that can defend itself with nuclear weapons? You didn’t think this one through, did you?
66TheNumberOfTheBest
I’d say you missed my point, if I thought you’d read it at all. Having said that…
Why not take the virus to Judge Judy while we are at it?
looiebelongsinthehall
And what happens when she then tests positive?
Buzzed Capra
China didn’t cause this on their own. The guys who rule the world orchestrated it. But they’re not going to tell you that on the news of course.
66TheNumberOfTheBest
Free masons? Illuminatti? Crab people?
BlueSkies_LA
The crab people. Definitely.
toooldtocare
Just got a survey from my season ticket rep asking what the likelihood that we would attend any games during the 2020 mini season as it were. Was told if we decided not to attend any, our full cost that we paid for this season would be credited to our account for the 2021 season even if games are played with fans in the stands. Curious if they know something about a pending deal being struck by the players and owners or just a random survey.
DonB34
The Pittsburgh Pirates sent a survey to the “Fan Council” asking if you’d attend games if masks had to be worn, would you buy concessions, would you like or not like those stupid 1-way arrows they have in every store now for directional walking, etc..
homerheins
This thing is deadly, especially with older people, but it’s not remotely in the category of panic. Unless you like to freak out over the normal flu. Wash your hands, take care of your immune system, etc. With all that we know about how they’re coding every death with covid as a covid death, the actual death toll is likely close to the normal flu.
BlueSkies_LA
Bogus. Please stop spreading lies.
Buzzed Capra
He’s spreading the truth. These death tolls are greatly exaggerated.
Halo11Fan
Mr. Capra… What’s a lie?
BlueSkies_LA
No point debating the neo-medievalists who invade all of these discussions with their anti-science disinformation and conspiracy theories.
Buzzed Capra
Look at all the harm that’s been done to people in India and various African nation’s, for example, by vaccines. This is no conspiracy theory. These are facts. They have to be sought out and researched, because the mainstream media and scientists won’t put them out there.
Halo11Fan
Mr. Capra. Downplay the effects of the virus all you want. It’s not relevant to the basic problem of having a season.
The fact is, it’s contagious. That fact is, it takes weeks to get out of your system. The fact is, if a player catches this, even if they show no symptoms, they are going to be the IL for a better part of a month.
So even if someone thinks this is as harmless the normal flu, how do you prevent it from spreading? If it spreads, you don’t have a season.
wild bill tetley
It was downplayed the moment Minneapolis was torched. Let’s stop giving the media a pass. They said nothing when the rioting, looting and enclosed CHOP happened. You cannot blame people for downplaying the pandemic when it was blatantly ignored during social justice displays.
BlueSkies_LA
Science is the seeking of truth through observation and the collection of empirical evidence. For something to be true scientifically, it has to be demonstrated to be true. Conspiracy theories and other forms of superstition don’t rely upon or respond to either one. For them to be true requires only belief, and of course a rejection of all evidence to the contrary. Despite the fact that human progress is the result of centuries of scientific advancement, and we all live in a world created by science, many people today still choose to inhabit the mind space that existed in the 14th century.
rct
@Buzzed Capra
“Look at all the harm that’s been done to people in India and various African nation’s, for example, by vaccines. This is no conspiracy theory. These are facts. They have to be sought out and researched, because the mainstream media and scientists won’t put them out there.”
Please show me peer-reviewed scientific articles detailing the “harm” that vaccines have done in India and Africa. What you are saying is 100% conspiracy theory supported by ZERO scientific evidence. Just because you say “these are facts” does not make them facts.
You are lying and spreading dangerous, anti-science, anti-medicine garbage. “Mainstream media” (please define this) and scientists won’t put your lies and propaganda “out there” because they are non-factual and wrong. If you are believing anti-vaccine propaganda, you are a rube with a brain as smooth as a cobblestone.
BlueSkies_LA
You are right, but you are also wasting your time. You might as well try to tell someone living in the Middle Ages that diseases aren’t caused by Bad Humours and that blood letting isn’t a cure.
looiebelongsinthehall
Homer, you’re naive. Ask medical professionals if this disease is worthy of a panic. The ones I know would disagree with you.
VonPurpleHayes
It was naive to think players wouldn’t test positive if the season started. Of course they would. But a camp outbreak this quickly puts a damper on things. I’m now all for canceling the season.
BlueSkies_LA
Got to make a pitch for not constantly using the term “spike” to describe every increase in cases. A spike is a temporary or short-term change. More cases is more cases. It could very well be a trend and trends are how infection disease behave, not in spikes.
Halo11Fan
I live in Nevada, Cases were going down, they opened Casinos, now they are going up.
It’s a contagious virus… Some of this stuff is so obvious.
Buzzed Capra
But the media has to use that spike word. Their bosses demand it. Soaring is another misleading word they’re told to use.
Halo11Fan
The media has an agenda. I know this. but I know this is a contagious virus.
As far as baseball, let’s not even talk about how dangerous it is.
If you catch this, you are on the IL for four weeks. And since it’s a contagious virus, if you catch this, a lot of other teammates catch this.
I’m looking at this one way. Contain the spread.
whyhayzee
Stop with the media agenda garbage. It’s pathetic. The job of the media is to sell advertising. Getting the attention of people is how they do that. It’s not the media, it’s the people who go there that are driving this nonsense. It’s all marketing. It’s all entertainment. Nothing more than that. Get over it.
It’s a vicious circle, people do stupid things than they read stories of stupid things. Oh my gosh look at all those idiots at the shore. Maybe we should go, too. This country is like sheep to the slaughter, it’s not the media’s fault or sinister plot. It’s simple stupidity.
wild bill tetley
Did the media press the pandemic when the protests started? No. There is your agenda.
Halo11Fan
The press has an agenda, we all know it. Well, most of us know it.
whyhayzee
The agenda is to make money. Stop being stupid.
OCTraveler
Assume we have an average of 10 people associated with each team that test positive for COVID, that means 300 more people, their families and all the people they associate with are now subjected to this disease. If you do the simple math and extend this down to their minor league teams or training complex, MLB has its own mini-pandemic. There is no justifiable reason to expose this possibility just to play a game. I love baseball and have followed it for 60+ years and I miss it dearly, but starting the season is bad for the players and all related to the game and it sends a major “miss-message” to everyone that says “MLB is ok if only a few become infected.”
Halo11Fan
I think you can isolate the spread, but not at 70 games and not if you want to finish before November.
This 70 game number, or even 60 game number and still have expanded playoffs is not realistic.
BlueSkies_LA
The article was just updated to report that “multiple family members” of the players and staff are now infected. So there we have it. Turns out infectious diseases really are infectious. Who knew?
Halo11Fan
This is a very infectious virus. It spreads rapidly.
Even if people don’t consider it dangerous, it’s a contagious four week stay on the IL.
If it goes league wide, there is no baseball. It has to be kept isolated.
sufferforsnakes
Buy more books. It’s gonna be a long offseason.
Pax vobiscum
This should be the final nail.
Iknowmorebaseball
I’ve been saying it and this Phillie report is an example. Baseball owners are well aware of this and that’s why they are strict with their demands. The owners fear losing out to the playoffs due to their team getting covid during the season and possibly the playoffs being postponed. Players don’t want to be paid for the completion of the playoffs as part a pro-rated package because they know that they rather have the owners risk their money. Fans are very silly thinking the owners are the bad guys. The 2020 Major league baseball season is a high risk people and because a team can lose players on one shot from covid and destroy a run at the playoffs and meanwhile the owner still have to pay their salaries. Silly!
billmac
how in the hell do these people get this arent they supposed to be in quarantine and wearing masks and social distancing guess they thought since they were from philly they wouldnt get it
troll
play the games, last two teams without infected player play in world series
Halo11Fan
troll, that was pretty darn funny.
Roller Ball for the modern era.
terry g
This is not your regular flu. Yesterday here we saw 3,200+ new cases and had 41 deaths, Don’t spread the myth that this attacks only the elderly and those with preconditions. 46% of the cases here are people 18-44.
azdhs.gov/preparedness/epidemiology-disease-contro…
gvnbuist
a lot of fear-mongering on here today
Some people get the virus. Some of those, it makes sick. Others, don’t show visible symptoms and they carry the virus, yet of course they test positive.
Buzzed Capra
They’re conditioned to be fear-mongerers. The government has to constantly come up with something to scare them to maintain their tight control over them. They believe every lie they are told.
66TheNumberOfTheBest
Exactly.
When are people going to stop being afraid of this pandemic level virus and start being afraid of Mexicans raping them, killing them and taking their job again?
Don’t they understand how they are being manipulated?
Halo11Fan
If a player carries the virus, even though they are fit as a fiddle, they are on the IL for four weeks.
If one person has it, it is easily spread to other players, including the players they are playing against.
I’m not even talking about how bad a person gets sick. You can say everyone is a Typhoid Mary, and they are all as fit as a fiddle. It doesn’t matter, it’s still four weeks on the IL.
Strike Four
460,000 dead people in 3 months is not “fear mongering”, your problem here is that you just can’t fathom it, so youre trying to ignore it exists. Be better.
DarkSide830
you forgot the part about people dying, which is the real issue here.
rangerslegend34107
I have so many questions: Why are they there? How long have they been there? Were they tested prior to arriving? How often have they been tested? What type of controls were put into place? Who organized this??
This essentially just cost everyone the season
Strike Four
And to think: we could end coronavirus in this country if idiots stopping acting like it was a freedom issue instead of a single-cell disease that doesnt care about politics, and we just made everyone stay inside for 14 days. Then any cases would stay within a persons house, we could either send medics in to check on them or do it online, then no hospitals get overloaded, no mass deaths happen.
We live in the dumbest era of American history. Now, more than ever, more Americans are poorly-educated (although that doesnt stop them from getting a 6 figure salary), which means more Americans are media-controlled now than ever, and the media narratives are just convoluted nonsense made up out of thin air.
If everyone just agreed to martial law for 14 days, it would be over. Its such an easy solution but we cant have it, because karens need haircuts. I hate this world.
proof2006
Are we assuming everyone just has 14 days of food in their house, or will you be delivering it?
looiebelongsinthehall
Unfortunately, there hasn’t been a national plan. NY has done a great job so far but with NYC reopening, what has happened in other states is not a good forecast. Too bad everyone didn’t shelter in place at once with only essentials remaining working and under strict rules.
ThotDestroyr
WOW.
I hate China for doing this to the world and sports, but didn’t expect a newfound community spread in Phils after 6 months of Corona. What the hell happened?
Halo11Fan
This virus is the quadruple whammy.
1) It’s very contagious.
2) A large percentage of people get this, spread it without knowing because their symptoms are so mild.
3) If you do get sick, it has a relatively high hospitalization rate.
4) If you do get hospitalized, it has a relatively high death rate.
All in all, this is a bad one. It’s not the plague, but it’s not the flu.
troll
why hate china? it started development in the u. s.
looiebelongsinthehall
?? This started in China but the U.S was slow to recognize that all borders needed to be closed at once. The NYC area spreading was caused by allowing flights from Europe to continue for two additional months.
troll
m.youtube.com/watch?v=g0q1qx0OVYg
lazorko
Absolutely no mention of the type of test. PCR or antibody. Why not? That is critical information. No reporter is even curious or knowledgeable enough to ask the question?
If you are antibody positive you are not infectious. You are not a “new case”. You do not need to quarantine. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, do a little reading on the difference between PCR (nose/throat) tests and antibody (blood) tests.
CDC guidance and many states are lumping in positive antibody with PCR tests to get their wish-casted “spike” in “new cases”. If MLB goes down that same insane road, there will be no season in 2020 or 2021.
Stop the anti-science madness.
wild bill tetley
Do you think this is by-design by the media to implement fear? I ask because you aren’t the first person to make mention of PCR and antibody tests. Also still find it hypocritical for Mayors and Governors to make threats to those going to a beach, yet torching a building, stealing things, looting, beating, or not social distancing during peaceful protesting was never an issue. Everything since mid-May has been a walking contradiction.
lazorko
Personal biases have a way of letting people rationalize irrational decisions.
I don’t think the decision by CDC and the states to include antibody positives as “new cases” is exactly insincere, deliberate deception. But I think they fail to recognize how their biases influence decision making and hinder rational thought.
looiebelongsinthehall
This disease is still new. They are guessing those who test positive for the antibody are not contagious in the same way Drs. and scientists believe a “second “ positive test after being negative in between is not an alarm for again being able to transfer it. They truly don’t know and thus it makes sense to err on the side of caution.
lazorko
Oh, nonsense. This isn’t some SuperVirus from the Andromeda galaxy where you are infectious months after you develop antibodies it.
Go do some reading on medrxiv.org on antiobody positive status. There is zero evidence anywhere to suggest it behaves like latent viruses like HPV, HSV1, HSV2, etc. In fact, you will find a number of papers there that show the opposite.
BlueSkies_LA
The hope and general expectation is that antibodies would remain active for a period of time but whether this is the case or for how long for this virus is still unknown. From the CDC: “We do not know yet if people who recover from COVID-19 can get infected again. Scientists are working to understand this.”
So we will have an answer when we have one. The more important fact to keep in mind is that around 98% of the population hasn’t been exposed to it yet. This is currently a far more important issue than immunity.
Pads Fans
We know that people have been declared clear of the virus by the antibody test and then caught the virus again.
The only tests that MLB is administering are tests to see if you are currently infected. NO states are lumping active cases together with antibody test results. In fact, many states are still so low on tests of any kind that you cannot be tested unless you are hospitalized for symptoms. So thousands are walking around in those states with the virus that cannot be tested and that are spreading the disease.
Stop the BS.
BlueSkies_LA
As recently as a few weeks ago some states actually were combining results from viral and antibody testing in their reporting, but the ones that were doing this have vowed to stop the practice.
lazorko
Pads Fans, there are no proven “2nd round” infections in any of the reviewed papers. Zero.
Meanwhile there are studies of antibody-positive secondary exposures, and every one of those studies that reach a conclusion agree a short-term repeat infection is not possible. Go do some reading on medrxiv.org
There are many states that as of today, are still not reporting or separating out antibody tests and PCR test. The state I live in (Oregon) is one.
To back up your claim that “NO states are lumping active cases together with antibody test results”, please provide a link to Oregon aggregate data on antibody testing vs PCR testing. You won’t find it. Because Oregon does not separate out the test methods in their reporting.
Some states are changing their reporting, others are sticking to combined reporting. Meanwhile almost no one in the media bothers to make an effort to make the distinction. Including the reporters on this MLB related story.
M.C.Homer
I got the H1N1 in 2009 as an early 40s year old man and it almost killed me. I came away from it with severely damaged lungs for the rest of my life. The H1N1 was nothing compared to covid-19. This is no joke, nothing to play around with.
DarkSide830
not to undermine your point about how bad Covid-19 is, but you’re probably underselling H1N1 here. didnt have quarantines for it but it certainly gave the country a bit of a spook.
M.C.Homer
Your’re right. I’ll take neither, thank you.
Having said what I said, and having every high risk factor in regards to Covid-19, I haven’t missed a day of work. I am very fortunate to be required to work and be able to keep my home and my family fed. But I have conflicting thoughts on this, not being a good community member, the huge risk for short term gain.
Kind of reckless?
But at the same time if the whole world doesn’t lock down together, what difference is it going to make if we or I stay home or not? I think this is the question we should all be asking.
I’m going to spend this year complaining about all the Angels pitching Di Dope O traded away like I always do regardless if they play…
But I, like the rest of the world, are going to lose a year of prime Michael Nelson Trout, that is beyond words.
Pads Fans
Only 50 people total including staffers at the camp and 8 test positive with 32 tests still waiting on results. That is with policies in place to try to keep them safe.
That does not include the people outside of the camp that they spread it to. Since you are contagious before you even have symptoms, that number of those infected outside of camp could be huge. From local news in the area we know that number is at 12 as of 3pm eastern today and they are still trying to trace the contacts of the infected people. It will grow.
And you REALLY think they can put on a baseball game that requires a minimum of 120 people including players, coaches, trainers and staffers, umpires, security, and broadcast personnel that will all have to travel to and from the stadium?
skullbreathe
There were no health protocols at the facility other than it being closed for use .. Yeah’ some hand sanitizer and wipes were placed around the building but the health protocols being negotiated have not been implemented across MLB facilities. Also, these were minor league Venezuelan players who became infected.. They received a pass to continue to use the facility due to their inability to fly home in March… This outbreak did not touch the Phillies MLB players.
Emerson83
Conspiracy theory: they were delaying the negotiations in order to see if this would happen
anthonyd4412
So would you cancel the season if 5 players got the flu??
mrgreenjeans
None of the eight people who have been infected have been hospitalized and the virus appears to be under control in all of them.
Stop the madness
BlueSkies_LA
And none of the eight people who have been infected have infected anyone else, because of course that never happens.
Stop the stupidity.
bostonfan4life
Goodbye 2020 season
Dan Harmon
Let the hysteria commence…….someone has the virus, time to hide!
skullbreathe
Political correctness shouldn’t keep this from coming out but the COVID-19 infected were minor league players, not MLB ones… It was Venezuelan players at the facility since March who were unable to go home due to international travel restrictions so they have continued to workout and live in the Clearwater area.. All other Philly players have been banned from using the facility with the exception of a few visits by vets hitting in the batting cages.