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COVID-19 Threatening Baseball Next


Ted Schwerzler

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Today in Fort Myers there was a big-league game as well as some minor league intrasquad action. Across the entire landscape though, it was the fallout of Coronavirus that was being felt. Major League implications were now in place, and minor league changes had come as well.

 

With the Governor of Washington, Jay Inslee, placing a ban on public gatherings in an attempt to cease the spread of COVID-19 the Minnesota Twins had officially felt their first 2020 impact. Scheduled to play the Seattle Mariners for their second series of the season, those games must now be relocated. Talk has been that they could happen in Arizona, where the Mariners hold their Spring Training, but the situation remains fluid.

 

This isn’t a one city ordeal either. San Francisco has limited public gatherings of more than 1,000 people, and with Oakland just across the bay, a disruption of Minnesota’s Opening Day affairs could soon follow. The NCAA has determined a fan less March Madness will take place, and many individual conferences have followed suit. In response to the newly discovered health scare, many are erring on the side of caution.

 

It wasn’t until today that the Twins decided things would translate to the minor leagues as well. I talked with a couple of players earlier in the week, and they’d noted having been given instruction and direction relating to Coronavirus. On Wednesday however, the Twins had roped off significant portions of the minor league fields at the Lee Country Sports Complex, and ushers were put in place to interrupt the flow of foot traffic. A full-on quarantine of the athletes from bystanders had now been instituted.

 

 

I’m not old enough to understand what the SARS outbreak looked like, and regardless of any research, living this is bordering on interesting to say the least. It feels akin to something like a video-game-esque zombie apocalypse and I feel as though we’re just beginning to see the total fallout. Having had discussions with those more in the know, I’d be greatly surprised to see Major League Baseball play a full 162-game slate in 2020. The logistical hurdles ahead are going to be immense, and without clarification on what could be yet to come, a simple delay could be more straightforward that the nightmare of reactive decisions.

 

We likely won’t know the overall societal impact of this situation for years to come, and it’s almost assuredly going to be a benchmark in history books. While sports play a very small part of the overall social landscape, they are front and center when determining what many citizens gravitate towards.

 

Unfortunately, I think this gets worse before it gets better, and the fallout we see from that could be unprecedented.

 

For more from Off The Baggy, click here. Follow @tlschwerz

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From what I've read, C19 is much more contagious than SARS, but not as lethal, except for folks older than 60, and people already suffering from heart problems, lung problems, or diabetes. If you are elderly, this is a very dangerous time to be on an airplane. Mortality rate over 70 is ten percent; over 80 is fifteen percent. 

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What happens if one person on the team or support staff gets it and it goes around the clubhouse. Then to another team, or someone gets it and carries it to another city before discovering they are sick. The minors are going to take a big hit!

 

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I Honestly believe that unless you are recovering from Chemo or some other sort of treatment that compromises your immunity system, or you are elderly, there is little to worry about concerning this virus.  Then again, I could be wrong, so take whatever measures you feel are necessary to protect you and your family members.  

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I Honestly believe that unless you are recovering from Chemo or some other sort of treatment that compromises your immunity system, or you are elderly, there is little to worry about concerning this virus.  Then again, I could be wrong, so take whatever measures you feel are necessary to protect you and your family members.  

Sorry, there is not little to worry about. So maybe if you fall out of the range of the critical danger zones age or health-wise, you are still in contact with many other people in your daily life who aren't. This is where the greatest spread has been where I am in Hong Kong- family or business gatherings. It is far better to over-react at this critical time, than minimize the danger. It's colleagues, parents, grandparents, anyone in your social circle.  

 

You did qualify your response, but please, there is no one who has no reason to worry, and to not be protective and proactive.

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Above someone mentioned the main problem right now: what if someone on a team catches the virus.

 

If, say, Albert Pujols catches the virus, then the entire Angels team will be in quarantine. Do you also quarantine the umps from their last series? And the team they played against during their last series? If that all happens, how can the league operate?

 

You saw what happened in the NBA when a player got the virus. MLB will probably have to postpone the start to their season until testing kits and a plan is in place. Right now there are so many unknowns that it seems almost impossible to start league play in the  near future.

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A lot of this is media hype.  The very old folks are the ones succumbing to this virus.  Like 70+ year olds (not 50-60 year olds), but especially people that are immunocompromised. 

 

Influenza A and B kill over 30,000 Americans a year with over 30 million contracting it from one year to the next.  Of that 490,0000 result in hospitalizations and 35,000 result in deaths.  COVID-19 IS nowhere near that level. 

 

The CDC put out A LOT of bad data initially about COVID-19.  At first they were claiming 6-8% causalities were possible which is utterly absurd.  The most widely supported number now (compiled by actual medical professionals) is in the range of .75-1% which is bad but not a catastrophe.  In fact it will probably result in far few deaths than the swine flu outbreak a few years back.  

 

It's kinda like the comparison of the 38,000 car accident fatalities in in USA to one passenger plane crash killing 350 people.  Neither scenario is good obviously, but the media is always going to hype up the plane crash because it's a plane, not typical.  Almost every medical professional I know is just rolling their eyes at this.  This is the first time a corona virus has circulated either, just so everyone is aware.

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