Second Yankees minor leaguer has tested positive for coronavirus
A second New York Yankees minor leaguer has tested positive for coronavirus, Jon Heyman of MLB Network reported Tuesday. The news comes after Sunday’s announcement that another unnamed Yankees minor leaguer was the first case of the coronavirus hitting baseball.
The Yankees have confirmed the second case.
The Yankees released a statement on a second minor league player testing positive for COVID-19. pic.twitter.com/oyl4XAfqg1
— Lindsey Adler (@lindseyadler) March 17, 2020
All Yankees minor leaguers are currently under quarantine after the first positive test, which means this second case was spread before Sunday. The Yankees minor leaguers don’t have contact with the big-league team as their complex is a mile away from big-league camp.
Yankees minor leaguers are currently quarantined in hotel rooms, with food and water being delivered to them daily.
The first Yankees coronavirus case
The New York Yankees confirmed Sunday that one of their minor leaguers had tested positive for the coronavirus, after it was first reported by Jeff Passan of ESPN. The team has not identified the player, and the player has yet to identify himself.
A minor league player in the New York Yankees system has tested positive for coronavirus, sources tell ESPN. He is the first known case in baseball. He was quarantined Friday morning after saying he was running a fever.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) March 15, 2020
What the Yankees are doing about coronavirus
In the immediate aftermath, the Yankees are quarantining all of their minor leaguers for two weeks. According to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, the team will have food delivered to their players in their hotel rooms. No Yankees major leaguers had contact with the player, according to GM Brian Cashman.
The New York Times’ James Wagner clarified the timeline of the infected player with a Yankees spokesperson.
The Yankees minor leaguer who tested positive for COVID-19 called the team to say he had a fever on Friday morning & didn’t come to the minor league complex that day, per a Yankees spokesman. Minor league camp has been closed since Friday morning, anyway, as the team had planned.
— James Wagner (@ByJamesWagner) March 15, 2020
The player didn’t go to minor league camp on the day he had a fever, and it was closed anyway, but everyone should hold in those sighs of relief. Once someone actually has COVID-19, it can take several days for them to show symptoms. According to the World Health Organization, the incubation period for COVID-19 is between one and 14 days, with the average being five days.
While it was smart for the player to call the team as soon as he realized he had a fever, it’s possible that he had contact with his teammates before he started showing symptoms. During that period, he could have exposed other players.
According to Jon Heyman, some Yankees minor leaguers will be tested. The minor league camp is about a mile from major league camp, and the player reportedly never visited major league camp.
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