The results of MLB’s COVID-19 antibody test reportedly have no bearing on the sport’s return, but that doesn’t mean the study’s findings aren’t significant.
Before MLB was even chosen by Stanford University to join a league-wide study of coronavirus antibodies, those reporting on the subject were quite adamant about the fact that good or bad, this wasn’t some ploy to fast track the return of the 2020 season. Although, whether or not you actually believed that, Sunday’s promising results from the testing — done back in mid-April — should still be looked at as a positive.
First reported by ESPN’s Jeff Passan on Sunday evening, 60 of the 5,754 participating MLB employees tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies, revealing a much smaller potential infection rate than originally believed. The survey also found that around 70% (roughly 40 people) of those 60 positive tests had been asymptomatic at the time of the study.
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Stanford’s professor of medicine, and also the man responsible for running the study, Jay Bhattacharya, shared his surprise on Sunday:
"“I was expecting a larger number. It shows the value of doing the science as opposed to guessing.”"
Exactly. Guessing is the one thing we’re all guilty of during this uncertain time, and despite a lot of that guessing meaning well, for a major sports league to realistically return there needs to be a substantial increase in certainty. Sunday’s results were one step closer to that.
Granted, not everyone participated. Of the 30 MLB teams, employees and players from 26 of them submitted surveys, which to this point, researchers say is the largest national antibody study done pertaining to COVID-19. And though scientists still aren’t sure what level of immunity the antibodies might confer, the tests MLB took part in check for evidence of the protein the body produces in response to the virus, providing useful data when it comes to trying to determine the reopening of cities, states or of course… a major sports league.
And though this test all by itself certainly isn’t enough, there needs to be more like it done on an even grander scale, particularly if MLB is serious about its latest regionally-arranged 10-team, three-division set-up. The results released on Sunday are derived from a study far too small in size to allow MLB to accurately advise teams and players which locations might be the safest to return. “To say, look, you can go play in Arizona or wherever on the basis of this study would be difficult,” Bhattacharya said. “I would have designed the study very differently if I were trying to answer that question.”
Although, if I’m MLB, especially given that its results were much better than expected, I’d want a test that can achieve such a thing.
Either way, perhaps none of this will help MLB’s case in returning the sport, and if it doesn’t then so be it. The league directly assisted researchers and scientists in better understanding the COVID-19 virus, and that benefits everyone, regardless of whether or not it assists in the sport’s return. Improving our understanding of this virus is maybe one of the most crucial things we can do right now, and MLB played a big part in that last month.