9 more Major League Baseball players test positive for coronavirus

Jul 17 2020, 10:01 pm

Nine more players and one additional staff member have tested positive for COVID-19, Major League Baseball and the players’ union announced today.

Five players and one staff member were found to have the coronavirus during monitoring testing, while an additional four players tested positive during intake screening as a result of players being added to club player pools. These positive tests are in addition to the 71 players and 12 staff members that MLB announced last week tested positive.

A total of 80 players and 13 staff members have now tested positive for the coronavirus since June 27, with the majority of those positive tests coming during intake screening. The league has conducted 21,701 tests to date, for a 0.4% positive rate.

Just two out of the 30 MLB teams have not reported a positive test to date.

Major League Baseball plans on playing a 60-game season beginning next week on July 23, with teams playing games in their home ballparks, though the Toronto Blue Jays are awaiting federal government approval to hold games in Canada. The Blue Jays released their schedule last week with their home game location listed as “TBD.”

Should games be held in Toronto, visiting teams likely won’t be allowed to leave Rogers Centre — playing games at the ballpark and lodging at the attached hotel.

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