The Miami Marlins outbreak is a cautionary tale for pro sports and society, health experts say

You could almost see it coming.

Baseball’s alarming spike in positive COVID-19 tests forced the cancellation of two games Monday, and some health experts say the sport left a trail of bread crumbs from source of the problem.

“I think these events (in baseball) are a cautionary tale,” said Dr. Steven Hoffman, a professor of global health law and political science at York University. “They show we still are not (through the pandemic) and that the virus is still out there, and 99 per cent of us have not caught it.”

Hoffman, who is also director of the Global Strategy Lab and distinguished chair of Global Governance and Legal Epidemiology, commented after news broke that at least 13 members of the Miami Marlins had tested positive for the coronavirus. Monday night’s home opener against the Orioles was postponed, as was the Yankees-Phillies game in Philadelphia.

The Marlins stayed in Philadelphia after Sunday’s road game, amid reports that Phillies players felt some Marlins weren’t taking health and safety protocols seriously enough.

Dasantila Golemi-Kotra, professor of microbiology at York University, said simple slip-ups — such as failing to stagger workout times, putting too many players in the same place at once, and people not wearing face masks in the dugout — can be all it takes for an outbreak.

“It can be a case of spreading (the virus) through contact, and in baseball’s case the bats, the gloves, the ball or standing close to someone else,” Golemi-Kotra said.

“Even showering — and there is proper distancing required there in baseball and other sports, but it takes only one person and then the disease can travel.”

Unlike the NBA, NHL and MLS, baseball relaunched with teams travelling between home parks. Many of baseball’s protocols are as strict as those in other sports, and individual teams have gone even further on their own — although guidelines banning spitting and high-fives, for example, have not been enforced.

But travel has left the sport vulnerable to spikes such as the one over the weekend, Golemi-Kotra added.

“Having COVID-19 spread through respiratory droplets is very serious. Anyone who doesn’t take that into account, then that could be an issue. Travelling is challenging in terms of keeping people apart to the standards around COVID-19. There is not quite the proper distancing, and these droplets can travel beyond two feet when there is air circulating. And when there’s distancing but people are not wearing masks, or if the masks are not covering the face entirely, that can grow into a concern.”

Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious diseases specialist at the Toronto General Hospital Research Institute and the University of Toronto, pointed to Major League Soccer’s experience near Orlando, where Nashville and Dallas were forced to withdraw from the full-league tournament despite a bubble set-up and strict precautions. If a bubble can fail, he said, then it should come as no surprise that MLB’s plan might.

“In baseball, you can do all the protocol work — wear masks, keep your distance, maintain strict personal hygiene — but if you stop doing those things, or even slip up one time, then it should come as no surprise that (positive tests) happen,” Bogoch said.

“It’s also what happens in the other 16 or 18 hours or so when the team is not at the park. If they come in contact with anyone (with COVID-19 symptoms) outside the park, then there’s a greater chance of transmission of the disease.”

Such concerns factored into the Canadian government rejecting a proposal by the Blue Jays to play home games out of the Rogers Centre.

Hoffman said the reopening of all sports is similar to society as a whole.

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“We should reopen, we need to reopen. But when we do, that’s when we need to be extra careful,” Hoffman said.

“I’m focused right now on how we will reopen schools: Kids have to learn. How do we get back to school? And I think these events in baseball highlight how we have to get it right with things like reopening school for kids. These events (in baseball) are a cautionary tale, about how careful we need to be when we reopen.”