Members Of Philadelphia Phillies Reportedly Being Tested For COVID-19 Following Weekend Series With Marlins
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The Philadelphia Phillies have yet to address the situation publicly after more than a dozen Miami Marlins members tested positive for COVID-19 during a weekend set at Citizens Bank Park. The team has reportedly asked players to come to Citizens Bank Park to be tested and then are being sent home.
But we've also heard the team is awaiting the results of tests that were already administered.
So that timeline remains murky.
But if you watched the games this weekend, players close to each other and those high-fiving habits are hard to break. Some Phillies were reportedly surprised at the lack of social distancing exhibited by the Marlins.
The Phillies' game tonight vs. the Yankees is postponed.
Major League Baseball's emergency meeting today reportedly did not consider any postponement or cancellation of the season, which means everything is completely up in the air for the Phillies not just today, but for the foreseeable future.
Manager Joe Girardi addressed the situation Sunday after their loss to Miami, before the severity of the situation was known. He said, at that point, he felt good about his team's social distancing behavior.
"We're always concerned, you see our guys take precautions on the field. The good thing is when we see players from the other team, it's usually on the field and outside. There's usually a lot of distance, so you hope that protects our club," Girardi said. "The problem is when somebody gets it inside your clubhouse and is not aware of it for a day or two and then has the ability to spread it around to a few people. It sounds like that is what happened there."
Major League Baseball sent out guidelines on how to handle a situation if a player tested positive for the virus.
The guidelines were over 100 pages long.
Once word came out that four Marlins had tested positive, how did Miami decide to play yesterday anyway? In a group text message which is not part of the guidelines.
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred was on MLB Network and was asked if a massive outbreak on a team is the league's worst nightmare.
"I don't put this in the nightmare category. We don't want any player to get exposed, we think we can keep people safe and continue to play," said Manfred.
He also said once Marlins players tested positive, they did temperature and symptom testing on other Marlins before deciding to play Sunday.
