MLB employees to participate in 'first study of national scope' on coronavirus antibodies

Stanford University, the University of Southern California, and the Sports Medicine Research and Testing Laboratory, are teaming up with Major League Baseball this week to conduct the "first study of national scope" on the prevalence of COVID-19 antibodies across the U.S. population, ESPN reports.

MLB players and employees will use test kits that draw blood via pinprick and deliver results on whether any antibodies are present within 10 minutes. The larger goal is to get a better read on the virus' infection and fatality rates in the country. Antibody tests differ from regular diagnostic tests because they can tell if a person had been infected in the past. If they have, scientists believe they may have built up at least temporary immunity.

Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a professor of medicine at Stanford, said the league didn't agree to participate because it's trying to get back on the playing field quickly. The data, which Bhattacharya hopes to publish as soon as next week, will be de-identified, and not all players are expected to participate, so it wouldn't be the best indicator of whether it's safe to start the season, anyway. MLB "jumped in for public health policy," said Dr. Daniel Eichner, the president of SMRTL. "That was their intention and their only intention." Read more at ESPN.

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