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July 31, 2020, “MLB commissioner Rob Manfred warns 2020 season could be shut down,” UPI
“Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred informed MLB Players Association executive director Tony Clark on Friday that the 2020 season could be shut down if teams fail to do a better job of handling the coronavirus.
League sources told ESPN, USA Today Sports and the New York Post that Manfred, who has the power to cancel the season, could move in that direction if another outbreak occurs. According to ESPN, multiple players briefed on the conversation fear the season could be canceled as soon as Monday if positive tests climb or if players continue to neglect the league’s protocols.
The call between Manfred and the players’ union came after an outbreak among the Miami Marlins in which at least 21 members of the club tested positive for the virus. On Tuesday, the league postponed the Marlins’ next six games because of the team’s positive test results.
Two positive tests by St. Louis Cardinals players Friday exacerbated concerns inside the league about the presence of COVID-19 and whether health and safety protocols are being properly followed to prevent the spread of the virus.
As a result of the positive tests, the Cardinals’ game against the Milwaukee Brewers was postponed Friday and rescheduled to a doubleheader Sunday. The Marlins and Philadelphia Phillies were already missing scheduled games, leaving 20% of MLB’s Friday slate empty because of the coronavirus.
MLB and the MLBPA on Friday released the latest batch of test results through Thursday. Of the 11,895 samples taken over the last week, there were 29 positive tests — 20 by players and nine by staff members. The Marlins were responsible for 21 of those positives.”
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Added: An antibody test such as performed on 2.8 million New Yorkers shows that persons were “infected” with the virus at some point in the past. Otherwise healthy people often will have had no symptoms, no idea that they had been “infected,” defeated the virus and acquired antibodies. The quickest way to end a virus with the least possible harm to humans is to allow it to proceed unimpeded through healthy members of a population. When a large enough percentage has acquired antibodies, the society achieves “herd immunity.” Antibodies may not provide everyone with permanent immunity but will provide sufficient immunity so that whole communities can go about their normal lives.
As it happens, the world’s most famous virus expert believes in “herd immunity:” UK virus expert, Prof. Neil Ferguson, who strongly urged US lockdown, believes in and practices this naturally acquired or “herd immunity” in his personal life as reported on May 5 and 6, 2020:
BBC, 5/6/20: Ferguson explains why he allowed a friend to visit him during UK lockdown “while lecturing the public on the need for strict social distancing:” “I acted in the belief that I was immune having tested positive for coronavirus and completely isolated myself for almost two weeks after developing symptoms.”…BBC article acknowledges and comments on Prof. Ferguson’s stated belief that he was immune from catching Covid again: May 6, 2020, “Coronavirus: Prof Neil Ferguson [temporarily] quits government role after ‘undermining’ lockdown,” BBC: “Despite Prof. Ferguson’s comments [that he had acquired immunity to the virus], it is currently unclear whether people who have recovered from the virus will be immune or able to catch it again.”…Prof. Ferguson is director of the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis, a group which “advises governments” and the WHO.............
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