MLS is Back Tournament, The Bubble, and The Virus

I'm not sure it's about a "regime", but more about the current quality of the tests themselves. I'm assuming that the testing was done via swab? Those are very imprecise. Testing blood for antibodies is definitely more accurate, but brings up the host of questions on the longevity of antibodies after recovery and on the crossover with other corona viruses [but, still, definitely fewer false positives than the swab]. As the latest CDC announcement makes clear, the development of good tests is a work in progress.

 

Antibodies do not indicate a current infection that requires isolation, which is the purpose these frequent tests on MLS players.

 

Another player tested positive

Crew confirm second positive test 👇👇👇 https://t.co/Xr28tzyZtK

— Andrew Wiebe (@andrew_wiebe) July 3, 2020

 

Yeah, this tournament isn't going to happen. We now have two teams in the bubble with multiple infections. Half the teams haven't arrived yet. There are teams now wanting to delay entering the bubble because they think its safer.

Maybe they start games on Wednesday, but no way they complete this tournament, and I think the odds are likelier that they don't start it.

 

Let’s see how things pan out once all teams are in the bubble. Most haven’t arrived because they prefer to train at home and don’t have a game for 7 or more days. I’d be surprised to see if more teams delay their arrival.

The FC Dallas cases sound like they occurred before or in flight to the bubble, not in the bubble.

The quality of play will probably be poor the first 1-3 games but I’m guessing it pans out nicely in the end.

Anyone aware of the training situation for teams that aren’t playing on a particular day? Are they all just taking turns utilizing the fields available?

 

Couple of things.. I think you mean cotton swabs as a collection method, not as a test. PCR testing is generally very accurate. The issue is that using cotton swabs to collect the sample can be problematic. People don’t like having things stuck that far up their nasal cavities and, as a result, it can make getting a sample difficult. That and it can be hard to know when you’ve stuck it far enough back are why there aren’t any home kits that use swabs. A “better” collection method would be saliva. Much easier to spit into a vial, it’s something that can be done at home, or done much cheaper at a collection center.

Also, while progress is being made in antibody tests, they aren’t very accurate right now and they are never going to be as accurate as PCR tests. Antibody tests are intended to be used with large surveys To find out how wide spread a disease is, where error rates are more tolerated and can be accounted for, they aren’t necessarily intended to be used to identify if an individual has the disease.

 

For clarity, the 2nd positive test was of the same player who tested positive previously, thus confirming the original test. It wasn't a 2nd player who tested positive.

 

So this is the guy that has been allowed "back in training"?

 

Why would a player who's tested positive be allowed back in trading? No, he was placed in quarantine after the first test came back positive. The team as a whole is not training until given approval to do so by the league.

#Crew96 club statement:

— The Crew (@ColumbusCrew) July 3, 2020

 

If this gets cancelled, does this guarantee a cancellation of the NBA tournament too?

And what's usl even thinking??

 

On the other hand some Brazillian leagues are playing, and given their lower number of tests Brazil's situation is likely far worse than the United States...

Meanwhile 38 positive tests in MLB - I believe that is the highest so far of any pro league that has announced a restart. MLB anticipates widespread outbreaks in their teams, thus increasing roster sizes to 60. Brute force approach.

 

What do the players think? How about the coaches or even the team doctors? Despite what the world of Big Soccer thinks, 1 or 2 sick people don’t spell doom for everyone. The lack of qualified professionals chiming in on this speaks volumes.

 

Toronto FC isn't flying today after all ... seems the plane to carry them was already en route to pick them up, and got turned around mid-flight.

Hopefully the league has pulled the plug on this travesty already, and plays in safer locations.

With the groups of 4 (and 6), why not just play in in six regional locations in safer locations. Maybe shuffle a couple of teams around if necessary. Then some teams travel from one hub to another for the Round of 16, etc.

Surely there's many places that can handle 4 teams, and 6 matches during a fortnight. I'd think that most team's training grounds would be suitable ... along with 26 stadiums ... so should be 6 left by the time you get rid of the worst Covid locations.

 

Yeah, MLB killed MiLB last week - informing farm teams that they wouldn't be release players to the minors this season.

 

Because that's what SKC reported before.

Sporting Kansas City has confirmed that the player that originally tested positive for COVID-19 is NOT positive. They have confirmed the original test to be a “false positive”... the player is back in training as we speak.

— Soren Petro (@SorenPetro) July 3, 2020

 

If this were a non-pandemic situation, sure.

The problem here is that you'd now need 6 or 7 separate "bubbles" with all the isolated operations, communications, and broadcast staffs. And while many teams have the facilities that can handle 4-6 teams training in relative isolation with a "main stadium" that could be used, most of those places don't have lodging that would be adequate to hosting major league level athletes for an extended period nor the on-site amenities to fill the down time that they'll find at the Swan and Dolphin.

 

This would only magnify the risks. Once in a bubble and established, the risks of spread should in theory be stopped IF all positives are ferreted out before teams intermingle. FCD most likely got exposed at home (or at least the first couple players were, then maybe infected teammates within the bubble but before the tests caught it) and im sure many of the other positives can be traced back to home markets.
If you were to force teams to exit their initial bubble, travel to and through an airport, then to the next bubble, you end up multiplying exposure risks.
The league and players surely had to know that there was zero chance that they would have no positives. The question is what is their risk tolerance? Are they willing to let a team play with the last 15 players standing on their roster?

Also, are the players testing at a higher rate than they would have if they were at home training, grocery shopping or sleeping with their wives who are not under restriction?

They should have all entered the bubble at least 2 weeks before first games, but I think the players were pushing for a shorter time in the bubble so......here we are. The players want to play soccer, the owners want to at least generate some revenue and maintain some mindshare, soccer fans want to watch soccer so this is what we got. Canada almost surely wouldn't have hosted this tournament and Florida was pretty much the only state willing and able to partner with us, not to mention their numbers were looking much better at the time this was all put together. This was the only truly viable option to play MLS Soccer in July, lets hope it works out for everybody!

 

https://amp.tennessean.com/amp/3275554001?__twitter_impression=true

Nashville has adventurous time getting there.

maybe they push the whole thing back a week to give the bubble a chance to work? I suppose the length of time in Orlando was a sticking point initially so probably no dice.

 

Unless we see another FC Dallas situation I don’t see enough of a reason to cancel this. Things are in too deep to start somewhere else.

The restart would also be delayed further because the owners and players association would have to revise the CBA which would take time again.

 

I've been following this account

1279217163526524928 is not a valid tweet id

If true, Montreal has one positive case. I'll keep checking on them, for updates. They are making the news today for firing people from their academies

 

This isn't gonna happen. It's either Orlando, or you might as well pull the plug on the tourney all together and probably the 2020 season.

 

I think you have your teams confused. POd was talking about the Crew player, not the SKC player. Basically the way it works is that they perform a test on all the players upon arrival, if one tests positive, they isolate that player and their team, and do another test on the player that tested positive. If that comes back positive, they test the entire team again and do it daily for a few days. If it comes back negative, they release the player and team back to training.

 

Depends. If it is just one or two players a team, I’m not sure why they would cancel. It sounds like they have an isolation area in the hotel(s) where they send infected players/teams and as long as it doesn’t spread beyond that, they should be fine. If they have more FCD situations, sure, but right now it is just one or two a team.

 

Is there any particular reason to believe @MLSCovidCup is legit?