Dominican players heading to the United States for the pandemic-shortened season seemingly brought everything with them except a clean bill of health.
According to the Washington Post’s Jesse Dougherty, players and staff members were not tested for coronavirus before boarding a pair of MLB-chartered planes. Since then, multiple players on those flights have tested positive.
Six players in the defending champion Nationals organization, including star outfielder Juan Soto, were reportedly exposed on the flights and are now quarantining in D.C. One member of the Nationals is said to have tested positive for COVID-19.
A league spokesman said that tests were harder to obtain in the DR, and that “shipping saliva samples from the Dominican Republic to the U.S. was not possible due to governmental restrictions.”
On Tuesday, the league doubled down on their decision to forego testing those Dominican players and staff.
“Testing 160 asymptomatic players in the Dominican Republic would have diverted substantial resources away from the Dominican health care system, where the availability of laboratory equipment is scarce, and would have required an exception to the country’s criteria for testing, which was not something we were prepared to do.”
This is not the first significant testing lapse during the league’s relaunch attempts. Numerous teams have reported extended waits on test results, leading some squads to cancel practices until clearing every person covered under the testing protocol for coronavirus.