Major League Baseball players returned to the fields after COVID-19 delayed the start of their season.
The typical baseball game that we are used to seeing on our TV screens and from the stands in front of the field has changed drastically due to this pandemic.
All of the changes and restrictions for teams and staff are listed in the MLB’s 2020 Operations Manual.
This includes instructing all players and coaches to walk 6 feet apart from one another when entering the field. Also, players and spectators must keep a distance from each other in both the dugout and the stands once the game is in play. Temperature checks and symptom reviews of players and coaches are required at least twice a day, while the saliva of each person is required to be tested once every other day.
In the case that a player has a temperature higher than 100.4°F (38°C) or received a positive COVID test result, they can not return to play until they receive two negative test results, 24 hours apart. Those who have been exposed to anyone with symptoms or a positive COVID test result must be given an immediate test additional to the ones as part of the regular schedule.
However, there seems to be a way to get around these rules, even if it means not being completely safe or honest.
Two days into the baseball season the Major League teams continued to see setbacks as the Coronavirus hit the Miami Marlins.
On Sunday, Jose Urena, Miami’s starting pitcher, was scratched from his scheduled start based on a positive COVID test that he received earlier that day.
Knowing that the team was exposed to Urena, the Marlins still decided in a group chat to play the game that afternoon, despite the league’s regulations as well as their moral obligation to their opponents and employees.
Regardless of the protocol listed in the MLB’s 2020 Operation’s Manual, the Marlins “never had the mentality” of not playing the ball game on Sunday, according to one of Miami’s players, Miguel Rojas.
As of Monday, 11 of the 33 Marlins players and 2 coaches, tested positive for COVID at Citizens Bank Park. Four more tests have proceeded to come back positive, adding up to 17 total cases on the team.
However, all players and staff of the Philadelphia Phillies showed no positive results according to the initial COVID test that took place on Monday.
For safety reasons, the Phillies home game against the Yankees scheduled for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday games in New York have been cancelled. As of July 30, 2020, their season will resume on Saturday once the Phillies travel to Toronto to play the Blue Jays.
This brings light to our moral and ethical choices, not just those of professional athletes. As we get closer to school reopening, parents and students will be asked to be honest about positive test results for students and refrain from sending students to school if they have symptoms. This may be difficult for working parents of younger students, but it is a priority to keep everyone else safe and to help decrease the spread of the COVID.
Overall, not only should everyone be honest with one another, but also honest with themselves. Is it the best thing to put others at risk of being exposed if you could potentially have the virus?