Six players on the New York Yankees have tested positive for COVID-19, forcing the postponement of their home game against the Boston Red Sox.
During routine testing for the virus, three players — pitchers Jonathan Loaisiga, Nestor Cortes Jr. and Wandy Peralta — tested positive and three other Yankees players are awaiting lab results after rapid testing found they, too, had the virus, including star outfield Aaron Judge. This was the eighth COVID-related postponement in Major League Baseball this season but the first to be tabled in about three months, according to the Associated Press. “We have a couple of them that have had symptoms, but for the most part, they’re doing pretty well,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone told MLB.com. “We’ll just rally around them and give them the support they need and see where this thing goes as the hours unfold.”
“It’s a fluid situation that could spread. It has spread to some degree,” Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said. “The vaccines that we encourage everybody to get guarantee not getting hospitalized and not getting death coming from COVID, which is important, but it doesn’t prevent you from contracting COVID.”
The Yankees were among the first Major League teams to reach the 85 percent vaccination threshold to lessen coronavirus protocols, such as dropping mask use in dugouts and bullpens. But despite those vaccinations, this is the second instance of an outbreak among the baseball team: In May, more than a half dozen Yankees coaches tested positive. They used highly sensitive tests that can detect even very small amounts of the virus.
