Prior to Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred imposing a 60-game schedule for the 2020 season, the Players Association was required to agree to a July 3 report date for Summer Camp and the health and safety protocols that had previously been presented with.
The detailed guidelines entailed regular testing for coronavirus (COVID-19) in effort to keep players as safe as possible. A total of 3,185 samples were tested in the first round, resulting in 31 players and seven staff members testing positive, which represented an encouraging 1.2% of the pool. Nineteen different teams had one more more individuals produce a positive test.
Now MLB and the MLBPA announced results from monitor resting, which focused on screening players and other Tier 1 individuals every day, and those in Tier 2 grouping multiple times a week.
The number of monitoring samples collected and tested in the past week was 10,548. Six of those samples, which is 0.05%, tested as new positives. The past week included a five-day period in which no new positives were reported.
Five of the six positives were players, with the other a club staff member. The total number of monitoring samples collected and tested to date is 17,949. Twenty-three of those — or a mere 0.1% — were positive.
Dodgers not having issues with testing
MLB’s testing process has come under some scrutiny as multiple teams experienced delays with receiving their results. That was attributed to a combination of the weekend and a holiday, and the league assured the process would be ironed out.
New Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Mookie Betts nonetheless expressed some doubt over the likelihood of the 2020 season being completed. “I can’t say I’m that confident because I haven’t been shown yet,” he recently said.
“That’s kind of tough to be confident in something that hasn’t proved to be full proof. So there’s not a whole lot really I can do, it’s kind of out of my control, but it’s in somebody’s control and whoever’s control it’s in just has to find a way to make it work or this whole operation may not be able to work.”
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts downplayed any concern, though admittedly attributed it to his personality of being an optimist.
With the latest test results trending in the right direction for MLB, the prospect of holding Opening Day on July 23 appears all the more likely.
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