Mitigating a COVID-19 Outbreak Among Major League Baseball Players — United States, 2020

Murray, Meghan; Riggs, Margaret A.; Engelthaler, David M.; Johnson, Caroline C.; Watkins, S; Longenberger, Allison; Brett-Major, David M.; Lowe, John J.; Broadhurst, M. Jana; Ladva, Chandresh N; Villanueva, Julie; MacNeil, Adam; Qari, Shoukat H.; Kirking, Hannah L.; Cherry, Michael; Khan, A.S.M.

doi:10.15585/mmwr.mm6942a4

Cited by 27 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…31 The increase in miscellaneous IL placements with no specified reason for placement is likely attributable to the required testing protocols of the MLB for those players with exposure to the virus. 33 When removing the other categorization entirely from both the pre–COVID-19 and the 2020 cohorts and comparing total injury incidence, the difference remains significant.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…29 This difference, combined with the inadequate injury detail, did not allow for an assessment of differences in injury severity between 2020 and previous seasons. The lack of detail in soft tissue injuries leads to the potential suspicion of COVID-19 contact tracing to be underreported under the guise of common baseball injuries, but transparency provided by the MLB as well as an oversight of outbreaks provided by the Centers for Disease Control 33 makes this possibility unlikely. Another limitation of the public database is the inability to control for roster-management differences in 2020.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Injury Rates in Major League Baseball During the 2020 COVID-19 Season

Platt

Uhl

Sciascia

et al. 2021

Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine

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Background: The 2020 Major League Baseball (MLB) season was drastically altered because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The changes included an extended layoff between March and July as well as a shortened preseason. Purpose/Hypothesis: To determine the incidence and epidemiology of MLB injuries in the abbreviated 2020 season compared with prior seasons. We hypothesized that there was an increase in the overall injury rate in the 2020 season compared with the 2018-2019 seasons and that it equally affected all body regions. Study Design: Descriptive epidemiology study. Methods: The MLB transactions database was queried to find players who had been placed on the injury list between 2018 and 2020. Injuries were categorized into upper extremity, lower extremity, spine/core, and other injuries. Incidence per 1000 athlete-exposures was calculated for the prior 2 seasons (2018-2019) and for the 2020 season separately. Incidence for each category was also calculated separately for pitchers and fielders. Incidence rate ratios (IRRs) and confidence intervals were used to compare injury rates in 2018-2019 versus 2020. The z test for proportions was used to determine significant differences between injury incidences. Results: In 2020, the overall incidence rate per 1000 athlete-exposures was almost twice the rate compared with the 2 seasons before COVID-19 (8.66 vs 5.13; IRR, 1.69 [95% CI, 1.53-1.87]; P < .001). Injury incidence increased similarly in 2020 for both pitchers (IRR, 1.68 [95% CI, 1.47-1.91]; P < .001) and fielders (IRR, 1.68 [95% CI, 1.45-1.96]; P < .001). Increases in injury incidence were seen in the upper extremity, spine/core, and other injury categories; however, the incidence of the lower extremity did not change significantly. Conclusion: There was a significant increase in injury incidence for both pitchers and fielders in 2020. Injury rates increased in anatomic zones of the upper extremity and spine/core but were not significantly changed in the lower extremity. The overall increase in injury rate suggests that irregular or insufficient sport-specific preparation prior to the start of the season placed athletes at a greater risk of injury when play resumed.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Injury Rates in Major League Baseball During the 2020 COVID-19 Season

Platt

Uhl

Sciascia

et al. 2021

Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine

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“…The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted January 25, 2021. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.01.21.21249825 doi: medRxiv preprint that a single negative asymptomatic test result did not preclude the possibility of recent exposure or the development of symptoms over the next few days. On the contrary, negative test results can provide a false sense of security that leads to reduced mitigation and increased spread, as documented in professional sports 7,8 , universities [9][10][11][12] , and government organizations including the White House. Thus, students received repeated, regular messaging that a single negative asymptomatic test did not confirm whether someone has been recently exposed or if they would develop symptoms in the next few days.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

SARS-CoV-2 Control on a Large Urban College Campus Without Mass Testing

O’Donnell

Brownlee

Martin

et al. 2021

Preprint

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ObjectiveA small percentage of universities and colleges conduct mass SARS-CoV-2 testing. However, universal testing is resource-intensive, strains national testing capacity, and false negative tests can encourage unsafe behaviors.ParticipantsA large urban university campus.MethodsVirus control centered on three pillars: mitigation, containment, and communication, with testing of symptomatic and a random subset of asymptomatic students.ResultsRandom surveillance testing demonstrated a prevalence among asymptomatic students of 0.4% throughout the term. There were two surges in cases that were contained by enhanced mitigation and communication combined with targeted testing. Cumulative cases totaled 445 for the term, most resulting from unsafe undergraduate student behavior and among students living off-campus. A case rate of 232/10,000 undergraduates equaled or surpassed several peer institutions that conducted mass testing.ConclusionsAn emphasis on behavioral mitigation and communication can control virus transmission on a large urban campus combined with a limited and targeted testing strategy.

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“…Notably, the use of asymptomatic surveillance in higher education(1) and professional (2) and non-professional athletics(3), has become commonplace, but transmission in these settings has also been observed and linked to lapses in implementation of basic infection prevention practices such as masking and physical distancing. (4)(5)(6) Given the considerable interest in asymptomatic surveillance in areas outside of healthcare, the question of the utility of routine screening among healthcare personnel (HCP) in acute care facilities has been raised.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%