The 2020 season is a week old and MLB already has a COVID-19 crisis. As many as 17 members of the Miami Marlins have tested positive in recent days, forcing 11 games to be postponed through the weekend. The Marlins will not play again until next Tuesday and the Phillies, Miami's most recent opponent, will not play again until this Friday.
As a result of the outbreak, the Marlins are shifting to a daily testing schedule, CEO Derek Jeter announced Tuesday. Here is Jeter's statement:
We continue to take this entire situation very seriously. All of our players, coaches and staff are, understandably, having a difficult time enduring this experience. After receiving additional test results on our Major League team this morning, we reached out to the Commissioner's Office with concern for the health and safety of our team as well as our opponents.
We have moved to a daily testing schedule while we isolate and quarantine appropriately, along with enacting additional preventive procedures with our traveling party. We look forward to safely returning to Miami where we conducted a successful and healthy Spring 2.0 before departing on the road and experiencing challenges. For the time being, we will remain in Philadelphia and gather information in order to make informed decisions and prepare for our return to action next week.
MLB players and personnel are currently tested every other day. The tests are processed at labs in Utah and New Jersey, and the results are supposed to be available within 24 hours. COVID-19 has an incubation period of up 14 days with a median of five days, however, so a player who was exposed over the weekend may not test positive until late in the week.
It's unclear how the Marlins outbreak started but commissioner Rob Manfred said MLB had some "theories" during an MLB Network interview Monday. Florida is a COVID-19 hot spot at the moment and the Marlins held summer camp at Marlins Park this month, so, even with MLB's protocols, there was still plenty of opportunity for exposure.
Despite the outbreak, Manfred said Monday the owners have not yet seriously discussed canceling the season. The league believes it has mechanisms in place (60-man roster, taxi squad, etc.) to manage an outbreak and continue play.
