Texas Rangers part of antibody study that may show true spread of coronavirus in U.S.
The Texas Rangers are one of the 27 Major League Baseball teams participating in a comprehensive study that could help researchers learn how widespread the coronavirus pandemic is in the United States, according to a baseball source.
The epidemiological study — led by the Sports Medicine Research and Testing Laboratory, Stanford University and the University of Southern California — checks participants’ blood samples for antibodies that have formed against COVID-19.
Participating does not hasten MLB’s return to the field, but testing 10,000 employees and their family members in several metropolitan areas will help researchers learn the prevalence of COVID-19 and could help government officials determine when to lift stay-at-home orders.
“You need to know how many people have been infected up to now,” Stanford professor Dr. Jay Bhattacharya told CBS Sports. “The only way to get that is through the antibody testing. That’s why this is so important. This will help us forecast where the outbreak is headed and how we can head toward opening the economy back up. Without this, you’re in the dark.”
The blood test is administered by participants in their homes with just a pin prick, and results are available within minutes. Rangers designated hitter Shin-Soo Choo said he took the test Tuesday, and left fielder Willie Calhoun said that he took his test Wednesday morning.
It is not a test to determine if coronavirus is active, like those given by health-care providers where it could take three to five days to get results.
However, the presence of antibodies could indicate that a participant had COVID-19 but was asymptomatic. The presence of the short-term antibody would likely lead to a quarantine, a source said, but having the long-term antibody is protection for the participant.
Dr. Daniel Eichner, president of the Sports Medicine Research and Testing Laboratory, said that the researchers approached MLB about participating. The league quickly responded that it would after internal discussions, which including contacting teams.
Bhattacharya said that such a study might take as long as a year to organize and conduct, but the arrangement with MLB has significantly shortened the process.
“They were happy to contribute to public health policy,” Eichner told USA Today. “I think it will be enormously helpful for public health to understand how extensive the infection is around the country. We need a study like this.”
This story was originally published April 15, 2020 at 6:29 PM.
