Major League Baseball has announced that they will be participating in a study that will test up to 10,000 people for coronavirus antibodies.
According to Deadline, the antibodies test is being administered to determine how crucial the situation is in major cities across the United States. The hope is that so-called “herd immunity” will help establish a course of action on the pandemic.
The study is a collaboration between Stanford University, USC, and the Sports Medicine Research and Testing Laboratory (SMRTL). The test will detect the presence of IgM, an antibody that is produced in the early stages of the COVID-19 infection, and IgG, which lingers after the infection. A positive test confirms exposure to the disease, even in those who are asymptomatic.
“This is the first study of national scope where we’re going to get a read on a large number of communities throughout the United States to understand how extensive the spread of the virus has been. This will be the very first of those. Why MLB versus other employers? I’ve reached out to others, but MLB moved by far the fastest. They’ve been enormously cooperative and flexible. We’re trying to set up a scientific study that would normally take years to set up, and it’s going to be a matter of weeks.” Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a professor of medicine at Stanford University, said of the study.
While this study does not mean that baseball will be returning, one proposed scenario would be allowing the MLB to play games only in Arizona, which is home to nearly 10 spring training camps for teams. If this were to work, no fans would be allowed during the games.
