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The coronavirus has now hit the Philadelphia Phillies just days after playing a Miami Marlins team battling their own outbreak

Meredith Cash   

The coronavirus has now hit the Philadelphia Phillies just days after playing a Miami Marlins team battling their own outbreak
  • Days after playing a Miami Marlins team with individuals who tested positive for COVID-19, the Philadelphia Phillies have coronavirus cases within their own ranks.
  • According to the team, two staff members — a coach and a member of the home clubhouse staff — have returned positive results from Wednesday's COVID-19 tests.
  • The franchise has suspended practice and other activities at Citizens Bank Park until further notice.

The Miami Marlins played a Major League Baseball game on Sunday despite having players who had tested positive for the novel coronavirus, and it appears to have now spread to their opponent, the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Marlins have seen 18 individuals within its ranks test positive for the virus and now, four days after that ill-advised matchup, the Phillies are experiencing the beginnings of their own outbreak.

The Philadelphia Phillies announced Thursday that two members of their staff had returned positive COVID-19 results from tests administered a day prior. Though no players tested positive for the virus yet, a member of the team's coaching staff and an employee who works in the home clubhouse at Citizens Bank Park have.

As a result, the Phillies organization has suspended practice and other activities at its home ballpark until further notice. Philadelphia's three games against the Toronto Blue Jays scheduled for this weekend have been canceled, per Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo.

It still remains unclear whether the entire Phillies team will be forced to self-quarantine in response to Thursday's results, but an expert told Insider's Scott Davis that a probationary quarantine of five days would be in order to determine whether or not Philadelphia had contracted cases of its own after exposure to the Marlins.

"The Phillies, I would put them under a probationary quarantine for about five days to see if any cases come up," epidemiologist at Oxford College of Emory University Zachary Binney told Insider. "If they don't at the end of five days, let them play again. If cases do come up, I would consider lengthening that."

The Marlins have put their season on hold in light of the wave of coronavirus cases washing over their clubhouse. Though MLB has planned for the team to return to competition on the diamond within the next week, Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos A. Gimenez has recommended that players and staff members for the Marlins quarantine for a full two weeks prior to resuming their season.

Representatives from the Philadelphia Phillies did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. MLB declined to comment.

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