For the second time in as many months, the Yankees are dealing with multiple COVID-19 cases within their clubhouse despite a vaccination rate above 85 percent.
The latest outbreak, which includes three confirmed positives among Wandy Peralta, Nestor Cortes Jr. and Jonathan Loaisiga as well as three pending positives that are awaiting lab results, is all among players, Brian Cashman said on Thursday, and “most” had been vaccinated earlier in the year.
“We’re in a very fluid situation right now,” Cashman said. “The vaccines that we encourage everybody to get guarantee not getting hospitalized and getting death coming from COVID, which is important, but it doesn’t prevent you from contracting COVID. It protects you from the severe, worst-case scenario effects from COVID.”
Third base coach Phil Nevin was the only Yankee member to experience serious symptoms during the May outbreak, and almost exactly two months later, the team’s series opener against the Red Sox was postponed as the team once again goes through health protocols and contact tracing to determine how much the virus spread throughout the clubhouse, though all confirmed positives are doing well health-wise, per Cashman.
“We’re grateful that we’re vaccinated in most cases, not all cases, so therefore we’re ultimately protected,” Boone said. “That’s the biggest message I can provide from the vaccinations, that they do protect you from hospitalization and death, but it doesn’t prevent contracting COVID, it just lessens those effects. So we are still vulnerable.”
Loaisiga tested positive during the Yankees’ final series before the All-Star break, and remained in Houston to quarantine, Cashman said.
“It started with Loaisiga, who didn’t pitch in the final few games of the Houston series because of his positive test, and since that time, we’ve rolled into entering the break with more confirmed positives today, and we’re reacting to it,” Cashman said.
With another outbreak on their hands despite a high rate of vaccinations, Cashman said the team will look into its protocols to see if there could be more diligence towards preventing the spread of COVID-19.
“I think we certainly will reevaluate everything we have done and if there’s anything we can be better at moving forward,” Cashman said. “Those are fair questions to ask. I don’t have an answer for that right now. I know we rely on a lot of guidance from medical experts and try to implement to the best of our abilities. We have a population of personnel where most are vaccinated. Some have chosen not to get vaccinated, they have their reasons for that. We’re certainly trying to create a safe environment…to work and travel in. We’ll constantly be reevaluating that whenever necessary for the benefit of our personnel.”
As for the rest of the Red Sox series, Cashman and the Yanks can only wait for more test results and word from the commissioner’s office, where the decision on Friday’s game will lie.
“We’re waiting for further information on pending tests on our end to give us more information, which I’m sure will go into the decision-making process for commissioner Manfred as he looks towards tomorrow,” Cashman said.
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