Are Marlins to blame for own COVID-19 outbreak? If so it would mirror America’s struggle | Opinion
The COVID-19 outbreak that has derailed the Miami Marlins season so soon after its delayed start perfectly mirrors America’s struggle to contain and get past this coronavirus pandemic that has turned 2020 upside down.
The lesson: It only takes a relative few, on a team or in a nation, to mess things up for everyone.
Half of the Marlins roster — 17 players and two coaches after one more test-positive Thursday — have been hit by the virus. The infection total for the other 29 MLB teams combined: It was zero until two members of the Phillies (neither a player) tested positive Thursday.
How can that possibly be? If what USA Today’s Bob Nightengale said on the radio is true, a very few unnamed Marlins went out partying in Atlanta after an exhibition game a week ago Tuesday, in violation of health and safety protocols, contracted the virus and unknowingly spread it. I would emphasize the word if there. MLB is investigating that report, according to ESPN. The team has made no statement on its truth but also is investigating the cause.
Meantime, CEO Derek Jeter, manager Don Mattingly, team captain Miguel Rojas — anyone who fancies himself as leading this team — should be profoundly embarrassed if the cause is proved to be self-inflicted. If a few players’ rule-breaking selfishness caused this outbreak, the Marlins would owe their fans an apology.
Last season’s 57-105 record was bad. This outbreak, no matter its root, is every-way worse.
After winning two of three to open the 60-game season in Philadelphia, the Marlins have had the next seven games postponed by the outbreak, with the still-scheduled restart on Tuesday at Marlins Park far from certain.
Because of the Marlins, MLB and commissioner Rob Manfred have now mandated all teams have a “COVID-19 compliance officer.” Is that someone to remind, “Masks on!” or “Six feet apart!” to grown men careless enough to need a reminder?
Where will the compliance officer be when two or three players are leaving their hotel on a road trip and sneaking to a club at 11 at night?
This is not to broad-brush stigmatize those with COVID-19. You can do everything right and still get it, whether via bad luck or the selfishness of others. There is little doubt that most of the Marlins infected are innocent victims.
Be real, though. Some people get it by being careless or just plain ignorant, putting those around them at risk.
The Marlins mess, no matter its cause, should be a warning to every other team in every sport, one pulsing in red neon.
It should especially be a warning to the NFL and college football: The potential for problems is magnified by travel, by flying and airports and hotels and other stadiums.
The trouble is, too many Americans at large, with sports teams a microcosm, have not been very good at heeding warnings or learning lessons regarding the coronavirus.
That is why the United States is last in the global league at handling this. Why cases and deaths are still rising. Why the NBA and NHL are ensconced in a bubble, and stadiums and arenas are empty and even the NFL and college football seasons may be in jeopardy.
What happened to the Marlins, sadly, reflects what we see all around us.
You can’t go a day without new examples of why, nationally, we are struggling to get past this plague:
Like this headline Thursday on ESPN.com: “Report: Rutgers football outbreak linked to party.”
On Wednesday, Donald Trump attended a crowded Texas fundraiser with no social distancing enforced. The president wore no mask. (It was the day U.S. coronavirus deaths topped 150,000).
That reminds me: Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), staunchly anti-mask, tested positive and now says he will treat it with hydroxychloroquine despite FDA warnings about the drug.
Newsweek headline: “Florida prepares to reopen schools as COVIID-19 child hospitalizations jump 23 percent.”
You heard about those college COVID-19 parties in Alabama, right? Where known carriers were invited?
And the sold-out music concert in New York with no social distancing that Gov. Mario Cuomo called “appalling.”
Then there’s the viral video of the man enraged to be filmed refusing to wear mask in a Fort Myers Costco
And meet Lou Williams, the Los Angeles Clippers basketball player. He got permission to leave his team’s Orlando bubble to (ostensibly) attend a funeral. He wound up in a strip club. He is now in a 10-day quarantine.
The instances of the breadth and depth of our national mess are everywhere, every day.
On the Marlins as in American life: The vast majority of us are being responsible, trying to do right. But a careless few can mess things up.
Whether it’s a baseball team stricken by this pandemic or a nation, if you are looking for reasons why or for a solution, look first in the mirror.
This story was originally published July 30, 2020 at 12:35 PM.
