'There Will Be Risks': Doctors Worried About Return Of MLB
BOSTON (CBS) - For many people, summer is not summer without Major League Baseball. Two Boston epidemiologists have concerns about players being exposed to coronavirus, if they return to the field.
"There will be risks," said Dr. Helen Boucher of Tufts Medical Center. "Risks of them congregating with each other. Risks of traveling. They'll have to be extra vigilant."
Unlike pro basketball and hockey, baseball players will not play in a "bubble." They will travel and some of the cities they'll go to are coronavirus hot-spots.
"I think there's going to be some problems with this," said Dr. Richard Ellison of UMass Memorial Health. "I do worry that they really need to be very careful, for the players, with how things are set up."
The MLB is planning to play a 60 game season beginning at the end of July. Even though there will be no fans at the games, players will be allowed to go home to their families or out to dinner.
"You only need to have one person in the environment to spread it to multiple other people," Ellison said. "Then if you have got two or three people who got it, you're entire team could get infected."
Last week, the Associated Press reported that several players and team staff members have tested positive for COVID-19.