Yankees’ Virus Case Count Rises to Seven

M.L.B. conducted contact tracing, and no players were identified as close contacts. It also helped that the Yankees had largely been vaccinated, which blunted the impact and spread of the virus and changed how their situation was handled. Last season, M.L.B. postponed 45 games after outbreaks and cases, and the leagues had already done so seven times this season.

“I feel like, in a lot of ways, because we’re vaccinated, we’re kind of good and able to deal with this,” said Boone, who also expressed a bit of frustration because the virus testing was now so good it could detect even small traces of the virus.

Added Yankees pitcher Jameson Taillon: “Our guys’ getting over the 85 percent vaccination threshold has eased everybody’s mind a little bit.”

Before Tuesday’s game, some Yankees players had been worried, and the team met to talk and hear from medical experts. Taillon said there was no doubt they would play, and the team voted unanimously to do so. After Tuesday’s game, the Yankees said their confirmed cases had grown to three.

“We’re a family in there, and we have to be all together,” Taillon said before Wednesday’s game. “We don’t want to take the field even if one of the guys is nervous about playing. We just had to get it out there, address it.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/12/sports/baseball/yankees-covid-cases.html