What to know about league’s safety protocol proposal
If Major League Baseball and its players can agree to a return during the global health crisis, the way teams play and prepare will be completely transformed by the pandemic.
The league delivered its first full safety and health proposal to players, detailing many of the protocols the league wants in place to limit the spread of the coronavirus.
The Athletic obtained a copy of the MLB’s proposal and summarized the new guidelines and prohibitions, which include socialdistancing rules in the dugout and locker room, a coronavirus testing plan that calls for multiple (though, notably - not daily) COVID-19 tests a week for on-field personnel, and travel, transit and lifestyle precautions when teams are outside the ballpark and on the road.
The MLBPA will have the opportunity to negotiate and counter on the specifics, which the Daily News has highlighted below:
Players will be tested “regularly” for coronavirus — the News has reported three times a week — along with managers, coaches, umpires, and a handful of essential staff that come in contact with players. Most exams will be saliva-based and can deliver results in 24 hours — MLB is outfitting its usual PED testing lab in Salt Lake City to handle the influx of coronavirus tests — meaning that anything less than a daily test could theoretically allow people to slip through the cracks.
According to The Athletic’s summary, the league will pursue the least invasive and fastest methods commercially available without harming public health needs — a difficult assurance given the dearth of testing throughout the United States. MLB also promised free diagnostic and antibody testing for people who live with ballplayers, as well as healthcare workers and first responders in every club’s home city.
People who don’t show symptoms will receive twice-a-day screening for COVID-19-related issues, including temperature checks. Anyone found with either “100 degrees Fahrenheit (fever), other symptoms consistent with COVID-19 or close contact with a confirmed case” will receive a rapid diagnostic test.
The league instructs its clubs to maintain dedicated testing-isolation areas at every participating ballpark, and players that show symptoms or test positive will have a place to begin quarantine.
One last exam: MLB is developing a COVID-19 education program that team employees, players and umpires will need to complete before returning to work.