‘The sky is not falling’ ... Experts make sense of the Yankees COVID outbreak

BALTIMORE — Aaron Boone could finally laugh and smile a little on Friday afternoon. After a week of talking mostly about COVID-19 and a cluster of breakthrough cases that had broken out among the team’s traveling party, the manager was relieved to say they had not had any new positive cases for two straight days. But after this week of talking about symptoms and testing, Boone was not going to let down his guard again.

“I don’t want to say we’re in the clear ever again,” Boone said with a laugh.

This week, as the country tries to get back to some semblance of normal after living through a year and half of the pandemic, the Yankee have been a high-profile canary in the coal mine. Their cluster has been a warning and a reminder that even as the number of Americans fully vaccinated against the coronavirus is growing and some of the protections we have adopted are being relaxed, the virus is still there.

We’re making progress, but we’re not in the “clear” yet.

“The most important thing for people to know is that the sky is not falling,” Dr. Tom Clark, head of the Vaccine Evaluation Unit for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Vaccine Task Force said on Friday. “This doesn’t mean the vaccines are not working.”

In fact, doctors and scientists see the Yankees case as reassurance the vaccines are working.

No vaccines are 100% effective in a population against contracting the disease or even some transmission, doctors and scientists across the country have reminded again and again over the last year.

The Yankees’ cluster shows that, but also shows the vaccines effectiveness.

“It might turn a home run into a ball that bounces off the wall, and it might turn a shot into the gap, into a soft ground ball,” Zach Binney, Epidemiologist at Oxford College of Emory University said. “That’s kind of what (the vaccine) does, it takes whatever was going to happen to you anyway and in the vast majority of cases makes it less severe.

“That doesn’t mean 100 percent, just like no fielder is going to grab every sharp grounder 100% of the time.”

It is rare, though. As of April 26, there were 95 million Americans vaccinated and just 9,245 cases of COVID-19 among them, compared to the 32,571,814 total cases of the disease in the country. The CDC is now only tracking breakthrough cases which require hospitalization.

As of May 14, those figures are now 120 million Americans fully vaccinated with 32,681,787 cases in the U.S.

The Yankees eight infected personnel all were fully vaccinated with the one-dose Johnson & Johnson shot. One had mild symptoms which have dissipated and seven showed no signs of illness, reinforcing the claims that while the vaccine does not absolutely prevent the disease it does take it from a serious illness to mild, or a home run into a ball off the wall.

“We’re also learning a lot of people who are vaccinated who do get infected actually have no symptoms at all, or a milder illness. Seems like that’s the story with members of the Yankees organization, who probably continue to screen and test regularly so these infections come to light,” Clark said. “Even though people didn’t know they were sick.”

The CDC is not directly investigating the Yankees outbreak. It is being managed through MLB and the New York City Department of Health, a CDC spokesperson said.

Clark said that while the Yankees’ cluster raised red flags for many because it seemed like a high percentage — eight out of roughly 50 vaccinated people being infected — it didn’t raise alarms with the CDC scientists. Under MLB protocols, the Yankees traveling party is tested several times a week and therefore likely found more asymptomatic cases than the general population would.

While reassuring in that the Yankees cases are showing the vaccines do turn a once life-threatening disease into a mild sickness, this cluster has been a timely warning as the country tries to return to some sense of normalcy. Friday President Biden announced the CDC’s new guidelines for vaccinated Americans, which included being able to go without a mask indoors.

Still, as the Yankees cluster shows, some situations still present risks for the vaccinated.

Yankees GM Brian Cashman addressed a theory of how the infection spread to three coaches, four support staffers and shortstop Gleyber Torres. Many have speculated the infections could have begun when there was a lengthy rain delay last Saturday at Yankees Stadium. The team and personnel remained in their clubhouse complex, which while large and open for the players, Cashman said that the coaches and staffers work in a smaller, confined conference room.

“I think it sort of tells you that the circumstances that kind of promote the virus that causes COVID are still there, still working in the virus’ favor,” Clark said. “Even when people are vaccinated, close contact for prolonged periods of time in poorly ventilated areas, that kind of stuff [Cashman] talked about, is where COVID likes to circulate. So, even if you are protected, your risk is reduced by vaccination, but it’s not reduced absolutely.”

Cashman emphasized that the Yankees were being as transparent as they could with public health officials and said they could even be used as a case study to help in the understanding of vaccines and disease. Mostly, public health officials and scientists see the Yankees cluster as reassurance of their research, the vaccines are working and a very public reminder that we are not in the clear yet with this disease.