Eight Vaccinated Yankees Test Positive For COVID-19 In Same Week
UPDATE: Make that nine Yankees.
The New York Yankees announced on Thursday that shortstop Gleyber Torres has tested positive for COVID-19.
He’s the eighth person in the organization to return a positive test this week. The other positive tests were among members of the coaching and support staff. The Yankees previously announced that pitching coach Matt Blake, third base coach Phil Nevin and first base coach Reggie Willits tested positive in addition to four unidentified members of the team’s support staff.
Cases are mostly asymptomatic
Manager Aaron Boone told reporters that Torres is asymptomatic. The Yankees previously announced that six of the other seven cases among staff members were also asymptomatic.
This is Torres’ second COVID-19 diagnosis. He previously tested positive in December and has since been vaccinated. According to the Yankees, everyone who has tested positive this week has been vaccinated with the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
Officials looking into ‘breakthrough’ status of Yankees cases
The NYSDOH issued a statement on Wednesday following the previous positive Yankees tests that it was looking into them to determine if they qualify as “breakthrough” cases infecting people who have been fully vaccinated. The statement reads, per ESPN:
While there have been anecdotal reports of New Yorkers who have had a positive COVID test 14 or more days after receiving their last vaccine dose, DOH is investigating those cases along with the ones linked to the Yankees further to determine if they meet the formal CDC definition of vaccine breakthrough.
The CDC has stated that “breakthrough” cases among people who have been vaccinated are expected and a normal part of the larger vaccine process. Per the CDC:
Vaccine breakthrough cases are expected. COVID-19 vaccines are effective and are a critical tool to bring the pandemic under control. However no vaccines are 100% effective at preventing illness. There will be a small percentage of people who are fully vaccinated who still get sick, are hospitalized, or die from COVID-19.
The Yankees are two games into a 10-game road trip, with one game remaining against the Tampa Bay Rays Thursday night before traveling to face the Baltimore Orioles and Texas Rangers.
