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MLB participating in coronavirus antibody study

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Major League Baseball employees, players, and other personnel have volunteered to take part in a study that will help track how widespread the COVID-19 virus is in America by testing up to 10,000 people for antibodies.

"I've reached out to (other employers), but MLB moved by far the fastest," Dr. Jay Bhattacharya of Stanford University told ESPN's Jeff Passan. "They've been enormously cooperative and flexible. We're trying to set up a scientific study that would normally take years to set up, and it's going to be a matter of weeks."

Dr. Bhattacharya will be one of the doctors assessing the data and submitting a peer-reviewed study that could be published as early as next week.

The goal of the study is to get a better sense of the coronavirus' true infection rate on a large scale. The doctors wanted to work with a large corporation with operations in many metropolitan areas, Passan added. MLB's ability to get players, staff, concession workers, and others on board made it the right choice, the doctors told Passan.

The antibody test, which involves a small amount of blood being taken from participants via a pinprick, will yield results in 10 minutes and is entirely separate from the tests for COVID-19, of which there's been a shortage in America.

"These tests are absolutely not getting redirected from any kind of frontline testing programs," said Dr. Daniel Eichner, president of the Sports Medicine Research and Testing Laboratory.

Eichner added that MLB's participation won't expedite any plans for its season to get underway.

"MLB did not partner with us for any selfish reason to get their sport back sooner," he said. "They jumped in for public health policy. That was their intention and their only intention."

The antibody test is being funded by donors, both doctors said, and MLB did not pay to participate in the study.

"This is going to be unbelievable for public health policy, and sport is giving back," Eichner said. "Baseball gets nothing out of this other than to test-drive public health policy."

Overall, 27 of the 30 MLB teams are participating in the study, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post, who added that personnel began receiving and sending back tests on Tuesday.

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