Teams Shut Training Camps After Tests Return Positive

Golfer has to withdraw from PGA event, and NHL star quarantines at home
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jun 19, 2020 5:05 PM CDT
Updated Jun 19, 2020 5:53 PM CDT
Teams Shut Down Training After Tests Come Back Positive
Gates to Spectrum Field, spring training baseball home of the Philadelphia Phillies, are locked in March in Clearwater, Fla.   (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

The return of major league sports is being complicated by the flareup of the coronavirus. In baseball, players for the Philadelphia Phillies and Toronto Blue Jays now have tested positive. In hockey, the Tampa Bay Lightning have been affected, and the Toronto Maple Leafs' biggest star has tested positive. So has—for the first time—a PGA player. The developments:

  • The Phillies closed their spring training complex in Florida on Friday after tests came back positive for five players and three staff members, the AP reports. The Clearwater camp will stay closed while medical authorities assess the situation and more staff members and players are tested. The Phillies, who did not release any names, said it's too early to know if the opening of the season will be affected. Baseball hopes to resume spring training on June 26.

  • The Lightning shut the team's facilities after five employees tested positive, per the AP. The team didn't say how many players were among the five, and the league is no longer releasing names of players who test positive. The NHL started allowing voluntary workouts two weeks ago; players are to skate in groups of no more than six at a time. The league wants training camps to open July 10.
  • Auston Matthews, who tested positive, is quarantined at home in Arizona, per the Toronto Sun. Matthews, who already had 47 goals when the NHL season was stopped, hopes to recover in time for the beginning of the Leafs' camp on July 10.
  • The Blue Jays closed down their training camp in Florida on Friday after a player developed symptoms consistent with the virus, per the AP.
  • Two weeks after golf returned, Nick Watney has become the first player to have a confirmed case of the coronavirus. He withdrew from the RBC Heritage in South Carolina on Friday, per the AP. Watney tested negative when he arrived at Hilton Head Island after traveling there privately, but said he had symptoms consistent with the virus just before playing Friday. He then tested positive.
(More coronavirus stories.)

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