During these past months of social distancing, Mets players have been staying at various different locations around the country. Some remained in Port St. Lucie, assuming spring training would resume where it started, whereas others traveled back to their hometown to wait for a return to action.
Now that baseball is set to return, players will be heading to New York for spring training 2.0 and they only have a week to report to camp. This clearly presents some health concerns amid the COVID-19 pandemic for both the Mets and the New York Yankees.
According to a joint statement the Mets released with the Yankees on Wednesday afternoon, Governor Cuomo is allowing the return of players without subjecting them to a mandatory quarantine. The statement reads as follows:
“The Yankees and Mets have been in touch with Governor Cuomo’s office today and will work with the NY State Health Department on a continuing basis to coordinate the return of players from Florida to train in New York next week. Out two teams, as well as the State Health Commissioner, will work under Major League Baseball’s protocols and guidelines. We are all excited to bring baseball back to New York. Thank you, Governor Cuomo.”
Wednesday morning, Cuomo announced a joint travel advisory alongside Governor Ned Lamont of Connecticut and Governor Phil Murphy of New Jersey. This advisory mandates that those “traveling from states with significant community spread of COVID” must isolate for two weeks.
Many Mets and Yankees players are traveling from Florida, where COVID cases have spike over the last few weeks.
This statement from the teams and Cuomo indicates that players will not be subject to that same rule of mandated quarantine, as they have to get back into training at the start of July, like the rest of the MLB. Instead, players will be thoroughly tested as accordance to the MLB’s protocols and cleared to return to the field without quarantine.
