Manfred Details Plan for Players who Test Positive for Coronavirus

On Thursday, Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred revealed the league’s plan if players test positive for the coronavirus during the 2020 season.

During an appearance on CNN, Manfred said that players will be tested frequently during the season.

"All of our players would be tested multiple times a week -- PCR testing -- to determine whether or not they have the virus," Manfred told Anderson Cooper and Dr. Sanjay Gupta during a coronavirus town hall. "That testing would be supplemented, less frequently, by antibody testing, as well."

If a player tests positive during the season, Manfred said, "our experts are advising that we don't need a 14-day quarantine."

Instead, any player that tests positive during the season would be quarantined until he has two negative tests. MLB would also conduct contact tracing, and individuals that come in contact with the infected player would be immediately tested and receive immediate results, which means a positive test will not necessarily lead to a 14-day quarantine for an entire team.

While Manfred and MLB owners are working on how to open the season safely, the commissioner hopes the "vast, vast majority of players" will agree to play. He added that even if MLB and the Players' Association agree to a framework that makes the 2020 season a possibility, players with underlying conditions or those who object to the risks of playing would not be compelled to play.

Due to the fact that people with health conditions like diabetes and asthma appear to be prone to developing serious cases of the coronavirus after becoming infected, some players are cautious about playing this season.

Manfred, who noted that the health protocols laid out in MLB's proposal span more than 80 pages, said "At the end of the day, however, if there are players with either health conditions or just their own personal doubts, we never force them, try to force them, to come back to work."