What prevented the Chicago Cubs’ COVID-19 situation from spiraling — and shutting down games? A cautious approach and getting vaccinated, experts say.

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The Chicago Cubs’ focus this week has extended beyond their opponent and winning that day’s game.

From president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer and manager David Ross to the training staff and team doctors, trying to ensure first base coach Craig Driver and bullpen coach Chris Young’s positive COVID-19 tests didn’t turn into a teamwide outbreak warranted daily attention.

That has meant additional testing, monitoring any player symptoms and ensuring protocols continued to be followed.

“Twice daily testing has become the stats I’m looking at right now, and that’s not what you want to be doing,” Hoyer said Wednesday.

The Cubs’ player precautions have involved putting four on the COVID-19-related injured list since Monday — relievers Brandon Workman, Dan Winkler and Jason Adam and infielder Matt Duffy — while right-hander Kyle Hendricks was scratched from his start Tuesday because he wasn’t feeling well. Hendricks is lined up to start Sunday against the Atlanta Braves if he continues to trend in the right direction; he has not tested positive. Adam was activated from the list on Wednesday and Duffy was activated Friday. Players do not have to test positive to go on the COVID IL.

Ross commended the players for reporting when they feel under the weather, looking out for their teammates and staff in the process.

“We have to be ultimately conservative when it comes to guys just having a runny nose or a little stopped up and congested,” Ross said Wednesday. “We have to really be careful and make sure we’re being diligent.

“It is very difficult to pinpoint the difference between a headache, a stuffy nose, a little congestion and COVID symptoms with allergy season. It is extremely difficult to do that, and we really listen to our medical staff on these points. They’re not under the impression that we should take any risks, which I would agree with.”

Because of the virus’ incubation period, there’s uncertainty hour to hour, let alone day to day, for the Cubs. The taxi squad and the COVID-19 list with its flexible roster moves have helped. Hoyer said the level of fluidity has been eye-opening.

Contact tracing is part of the process when a team registers a positive test. In February, Major League Baseball announced players and staff would wear Kinexon contact-tracing devices while in organizations’ facilities, during team activities and traveling with the team during spring training and the season. The NBA, NFL and NCAA have used the same white, rectangular Kinexon tracers.

“So it’s not a GPS tracker, per se, it’s using ultra wideband technology,” Kinexon spokesman Matt Bontorin said. “We all know that (distance and duration between individuals) are the two most important things when we’re doing contact tracing. What the technology does is provide very accurate data on contacts.”

The devices can be worn a variety of ways, including on your wrist, a lanyard or in a sock. Ross said during spring training that he kept his around his ankle. During this year’s NCAA Tournaments, most players had a small pocket sewn on their jerseys or shorts where they kept the Kinexon device, Bontorin said.

Kinexon doesn’t have access to the secured data, which is on a separate system. They provide the tracers and software to their customers, who then sometimes hire a third-party company to help teams’ medical officials evaluate the information.

Before the pandemic, Kinexon had been using similar sensor technology to track players for performance and analytical data, primarily working with NBA teams. The company reprogrammed the software for contact-tracing purposes.

“We knew that public health was going to be the main issue when it came to getting sports back,” Bontorin said. “The customers that we’re working with in sports, seeing what they needed from us to help get back to some sort of normalcy and provide safety to their players and staff while they’re in the building. It was a very quick pivot considering the circumstances.”

The Kinexon contact-tracing devices have helped MLB teams more quickly identify a possibly spread when there is a positive test. Had this same situation occurred on the Cubs last season, everything would have been paused, including postponed games, quarantining and thorough cleaning of ballpark facilities.

What happened to the Miami Marlins’ and St. Louis Cardinals’ 2020 seasons are good examples of how the virus can impact an organization. Without a vaccine, the Cubs could have endured more widespread transmission.

Medicals experts agree with the how the Cubs continue to employ an abundance of caution. It initially involved Driver not joining the team on their road trip to Pittsburgh because he felt sick. He later tested positive.

Zachary Binney, a sports epidemiologist and assistant professor at Oxford College of Emory University, and Dr. Carlos del Rio, the executive associate dean at Emory’s medical school, aren’t surprised Young and Driver tested positive even with some level of vaccination protection against the virus. (Young was two weeks post-second shot Sunday when he tested positive while Driver was between his two shots.) The vaccine doesn’t prevent 100% of people from becoming infected, rather it lessens the severity of the virus for those who get it.

Ross said earlier in the week that Young, who wasn’t experiencing symptoms, and Driver both told him they feel as good as they do because they received the vaccine.

“The reason that’s important is because it prevents exponential spread of the virus,” Binney said. “If on average somebody who got it spread it to 10 people, if everyone’s vaccinated, now they can only spread it to one. That is a massive difference in terms of how fast and how far the virus can spread.”

Del Rio compared a vaccine to having an umbrella when it’s raining: It’s helpful protection, but when there’s a hurricane it’s not enough. He said the Cubs taking a cautious approach with players who exhibit symptoms is the right thing to do.

“The good news is it’s only (two positive tests) because had they not been vaccinated, they would have had a gigantic outbreak,” said del Rio, who has been a member of the NCAA’s COVID-19 advisory panel.

If the Cubs get to Sunday without any more positive tests, Binney would feel confident the organization contained a potential outbreak. The COVID-19 vaccine has helped sports leagues navigate the 2021 season. MLB has incentivized teams to reach an 85% threshold for Tier 1 personnel, which includes players and the coaching staff. There will be looser protocols and restrictions if they hit that mark, which include benefits for vaccinated players when someone tests positive on their team.

Once a team is 70% to 80% vaccinated, Binney said he would be less concerned about a team experiencing an outbreak following a positive test, adding “the higher the (vaccination) rate is, the more comfortable I am — it really is a continuous measure here.”

“They are huge benefits to getting the vaccine and that’s the message we need to be sending,” he said. “It has been sent pretty consistently over the last month or so. I don’t think we were as good at sending that message at the start of things. It was sort of get vaccinated but don’t really change your behavior. I think that message has very much shifted to once you get vaccinated, you can more or less go back to living a normal life unless, and I don’t want to discount this, let’s say you live with somebody who is immunocompromised.”

The Cubs remain committed to getting their personnel vaccinated. Part of the reason Ross felt it was important to share information on behalf of Young and Driver was to show the Cubs are taking this seriously and that there are efforts happening behind the scenes with social distancing, mask wearing and vaccinations.

“Obviously, we have to get our vaccination numbers up as much as possible, not only as a team but as a culture,” Hoyer said, “but it’s just a reminder it’s still out there.”

Convincing people to take the vaccine has been challenging because of misinformation, del Rio said. He would like to see professional athletes get vaccinated, in part because it would serve as a good example to the community and fans in showing they trust the vaccine.

“Do it for yourself, do it for your team, do it for your family, but most importantly, do it for the country,” del Rio said. “Right now getting vaccinated is a patriotic act, honestly.”