Atlanta United and Inter Miami announced on Thursdaythat they had a player tested positive to COVID-19, the first MLS players to test positive since their teams began full team training. Already have an account? Sign In from the top menuSubscribe today for 50¢ The $5.95/month fee will be waived...
www.socceramerica.com
This is a paywalled article: but it claims to have the full history of positive test results for MLS, which I think it is fair to summarize.
Before Any Workouts
April 1 Philadelphia with mild symptoms
During Individual Separate workouts
June 3 Dallas no description of symptoms - team suspended workouts for 5 days
June 13 DC United no description of symptoms - test administered as part of pre-training protocol
After Group Workouts Resumed
June 18 Atlanta - mandatory testing protocol - asymptomatic
June 18 Inter Miami - mandatory testing protocol - asymptomatic
So - March, April and May have 1 positive. June has 4. But that's not evidence of an uptick in cases, because players were self-isolating and not getting regular mandatory testing until they came back for Individual Training. It's almost a certainty that more than just one of the 500+ first team players had the virus in March, April and May. But being young and remarkably fit they were low level symptomatic at worst and didn't even bother to get tested (or didn't tell anyone). The league is doing what it is supposed to do as it moves to restart, including universal mandatory testing, leading to inevitable additional positive results. And they they are isolating the positive players and conducting aggressive follow up testing.
I am very comfortable making this prediction: There will be additional positive tests reported as teams go through off-site training with aggressive mandatory testing for all players. However, MLS will get through the tournament and the two weeks afterwards (to allow for lag time) without anything approaching an outbreak that will threaten the completion of the tournament. This will be true even if Florida continues to report higher levels of positive results over the next few weeks. I am confident saying this because I know how Disney works and the evidence indicates that MLS is handling its own obligations responsibly, and they will be isolated as long as they are on the Disney campus.
I do not have enough information about their post-tournament protocols to say that will be true afterwards. I am cautiously optimistic about that as well based on what I have seen, but it is still an open question in my mind.
www.mlssoccer.com
