So if a player goes on the IL and they don't say why it equals a 99 % chance of it being coronavirus since basically everything else is reported...ironclad protection of medical privacy there.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. If they actually want to protect this information, they'll have to be silent on hamstring pulls, sprained ankles, and elbow injuries too.

Just say that everyone who goes on the IL is there because of explosive diarrhea or something.

Can’t they just say “the flu” like they do when a guy is hungover?

By NHL convention: Upper body injury.

Just say "Exhaustion" like they do whenever a singer has to cancel a tour date to enter rehab.

Can I ask an obvious question: why do these federal laws not prevent any sort of baseball injury from being publicized? not sure I get that, but Im sure there's a reason.

Just say "Exhaustion" like they do whenever a singer has to cancel a tour date to enter rehab.

Exhaustion from the explosive diarrhea.

Can I ask an obvious question: why do these federal laws not prevent any sort of baseball injury from being publicized? not sure I get that, but Im sure there's a reason.

Apparently it's collectively bargained.

I appreciate your research, but does that even make sense? I mean they collectively bargained away whatever HIPPA makes private. Right? So Corona virus comes along and:

under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, teams are not allowed to divulge the name of any player who tests positive.

Umm...but wasn't that already collectively bargained away?

Umm...but wasn't that already collectively bargained away?

The CBA waiver may only cover employment-related injuries:

In a statement issued Wednesday, the league said (via Marly Rivera of ESPN): “Because COVID-19 is not considered an employment-related injury, we will respect the privacy of the players who test positive or who are under evaluation, and we will defer to their wishes regarding public updates about their status. Without their voluntary permission, we will not disclose any COVID-19 related information.”

But we routinely hear about non-job related issues all the time. Rizzo and Lester's cancer. Washing a truck. Carrying deer meat up a flight of stairs. Broken rib due to sneezing.

You've probably seen on news sites that 9 players and a coach on an MLS team (FC Dallas) have tested positive. The MLS tournament starts July 8 in Orlando. It's one of the bubble deals. 3 players tested positive before the team left, and supposedly everyone was tested before flying to Orlando from the Dallas area. 6 players and a coach have tested positive since arriving.

I haven't seen if they flew a charter or what. MLS is low budget compared to the big 4 sports but they do fly charters some of the time in normal seasons.

But we routinely hear about non-job related issues all the time. Rizzo and Lester's cancer. Washing a truck. Carrying deer meat up a flight of stairs. Broken rib due to sneezing.

Reporters are not subject to HIPAA.

But we routinely hear about non-job related issues all the time. Rizzo and Lester's cancer. Washing a truck. Carrying deer meat up a flight of stairs. Broken rib due to sneezing.

I would guess that in most of these cases, the player has assented to allowing the team to publicize the situation. When Lester was diagnosed, he held a press conference to discuss his treatment. (Of course, the players may also not be fully aware that they have the right not to talk about these things, or to have them disclosed.)

In other cases, it's reporters who are finding these things out. The Rockies originally reported simply that Clint Barmes was put on the DL for a broken collarbone, and it wasn't until a few days later that the deer meat story came out.

I looked back at the story from a week or so ago reporting that Charlie Blackmon and two other Rockies had been diagnosed with COVID-19. No one sourced that material as coming from the Rockies organization; it was simply "sources." I think we can expect that it won't be the teams that are officially releasing such information, but that it will come out eventually nevertheless.

The Phillies have placed Scott Kingery, Hector Neris, Tommy Hunter, Ranger Suarez on the 10 Day IL with undisclosed injuries. Not hard to piece it together.

HIPAA is stupid and needs fixing to deal with the coronavirus situation. The purpose of HIPAA is to keep private medical information that would carry a stigma - things like HIV and other STDs, mental health conditions, drug treatment and rehab. There is no stigma attached to the coronavirus, and quite arguably the public's need to know about a contagious infection outweighs privacy concerns.

There is no stigma attached to the coronavirus,

You haven't been paying attention. If people knew that the guy in 13B tested positive, he would be harassed to move out and go quarantine elsewhere.

Look at how many idiots harass people simply because they look Chinese for chrissakes.

FWIW, I believe there was an exception made to HIPAA for information to be disclosed to public health officials for COVID.

Cashman's quote in the excerpt is amusing. "You would have to use your journalistic superpowers."

A) HIPAA isn't just for things that have a "stigma". Also it's hard to know what has a "stigma" and what doesn't. Maybe I don't want my boss to know I have a herniated disc in my back because then he will think I'll be in a wheelchair in a year or two and he thinks that will be a hassle.

B) Not many things have MORE of a "stigma" than being infected with the deadly virus everyone spends all day worrying about. The infected person might not be morally judged like someone with AIDS or a mental illness but he can be treated as a pariah nonetheless.

FWIW, I believe there was an exception made to HIPAA for information to be disclosed to public health officials for COVID.

This is the case for a lot of infections. They're called "notifiable conditions". Public health authorities are seen as having a legitimate interest in knowing about all cases of certain diseases. Here's the list for the State of Washington. Each one needs to be reported by filling out a form. Otherwise we wouldn't have statistics about them.

YOu can add Yordan Alvarez to the list of unnamed Covid related list. Per a Dusty Baker tweet.

Padres Tommy Pham positive but so far asymptomatic.

Delfino Deshields is positive.

Jose Martinez, Yonny Chirinos, Willians Astudillo, Nick Gordon positive

Willians Astudillo is probably as yet the most important human to contract COVID, or at least the most important since Tormund Giantsbane.

Still time to play the Guess How Long Season Lasts game. ...

Freddie Freeman, Will Smith, Touki Toussaint and Pete Kozma test positive. Freeman has a fever.

Salvador Perez, Miguel Sano, Josh Taylor, Darwinson Hernandez all positive.

Still time to play the Guess How Long Season Lasts game. ...

Honestly, there isn't a number for which I would put real money down on the over.

But following up on that, what would trigger an immediate shutdown? We've obviously moved past where we were in March when a single positive test to an NBA player basically shut down all sports within two days. Would it just take one active player being hospitalized? Would the severity matter - i.e., hospitalized is okay, ICU shuts it all down? Would the player matter - if Freddie Freeman's hospitalized it all shuts down, but we can all go about our business if it's "only" Pete Kozma? Or would it depend on the outside situation - 1,000 deaths in a week shuts everything down; 800 deaths we try to move on even if one of the 800 is Kozma?

I'm a little torn. This is a serious thing; it's a big deal; they probably shouldn't be playing baseball. But that said, these guys are healthy and under 40 years old, so while it's glib to say, it's probably also true that the vast majority of the guys named above will be fine on the other end of this. If it were up to me, I'd probably shut it down right now. But it's not up to me (and shouldn't be up to me, honestly) and I'm curious what folks think would trigger such a reaction.

Ricardo Sanchez and Genesis Cabrera

I'm a little torn. This is a serious thing; it's a big deal; they probably shouldn't be playing baseball. But that said, these guys are healthy and under 40 years old, so while it's glib to say, it's probably also true that the vast majority of the guys named above will be fine on the other end of this. If it were up to me, I'd probably shut it down right now. But it's not up to me (and shouldn't be up to me, honestly) and I'm curious what folks think would trigger such a reaction.

If baseball was just players, that'd be one thing, but there's a lot of coaches, umpires, support staff, stadium personnel, and people in the outside world that those people come in contact with that are at a higher risk for consequences if they're exposed. Maybe this is overly cautious but I'd rather not have a coach/umpire/unfortunate non-MLB person die because the Padres and Rockies played a relatively meaningless game in August.

Kiko (and others)

yall should watch this

they need to show 20 something obviously Caucasian 20 something year olds who are deathly sick or haven't revovered to anywhers near normal, so as maybe some of the anti maskers, trumpers and younger folks will wise their asses before i go all ham on em. yo9u notice that only ONE of those guys had a fever or any symptoms

and reading all the guys listed in the previous comments, i notice that only 4 of em are Caucasian. still too many of em think this is a POC's disease. that and the very old or already sick.

Freeman tested negative on in take on Monday, fell ill Tuesday and then tested positive.

This is ridiculous.

SHUT. IT. DOWN.

David Price opted out.

Jose Urquidy

33 -- yep; linked it yesterday in another thread. Gruesome.

Todd Zolecki @ToddZolecki
Aaron Nola, Adam Haseley and Christian Bethancourt are not in camp yet. #Phillies cannot give an explanation why.

MLB teams can’t identify players who test positive for coronavirus

Most of them will be wearing shirts with their names written on the back, as well as a unique identifying number. Maybe that would help narrow it down?

If baseball was just players, that'd be one thing, but there's a lot of coaches, umpires, support staff, stadium personnel, and people in the outside world that those people come in contact with that are at a higher risk for consequences if they're exposed. Maybe this is overly cautious but I'd rather not have a coach/umpire/unfortunate non-MLB person die because the Padres and Rockies played a relatively meaningless game in August.

And there may be a lot of coaches, umpires, support staff, stadium personnel whose livelihoods depend on these so-called meaningless games being played. We're past the point of only "essential" businesses operating. If some semblance of a season can be played with appropriate precautions, I don't think it is ridiculous to try. Of course there is risk involved but it seems possible to play baseball games without that risk being inordinate. They're not all going to remain in seclusion for the next two years if there are no games.

Maybe I am sorely mistaken.

no doubt this "positives" list already is outdated, but it is one that I have seen:

Freddie Freeman, Atlanta
Miguel Sano, Minnesota
Charlie Blackmon, Colorado
Hector Neris, Philadelphia
Salvador Perez, Kansas City
Mike Kingery, Philadelphia
Tommy Pham, San Diego
Will Smith, Atlanta
Williams Astudillo, Minnesota
Touki Toussaint, Atlanta
Tommy Hunter, Philadelphia
Ryan Castellani, Colorado
Genesis Cabrera, St. Louis
Darwinzon Hernandez, Boston
Ranger Suarez, Philadelphia
Josh Taylor, Boston
Pete Kozma, Atlanta
Luis Madero, San Francisco
Aaron Nola, Philadelphia
D J LeMahieu, Yankees
Luis Cessa, Yankees
Adam Haseley, Philadelphia
Cristian Bethancourt, Philadelphia

Mike Kingery, Philadelphia

who?

#42 Comeback attempt thwarted by virus.

There is no stigma attached to the coronavirus

Karl, oy.

Aaron Nola, Philadelphia

It has been reported that Nola hasn’t tested positive, but is being held out because of the protocols, meaning that he may have showed symptoms and/or been in contact with someone who tested positive.

Freddie Freeman

https://mlb.nbcsports.com/2020/07/05/freddie-freeman-is-sick-with-covid-19/

#42 Comeback attempt thwarted by virus.

Felix Hernandez has opted out of this year.

Has anyone opted him in?