The eight are: starting shortstop Gleyber Torres, third base coach Phil Nevin, first base coach Reggie Willits, pitching coach Matt Blake, and four support staffers.
According to the initial clinical trial results, the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine has proven to be 72 percent effective against COVID-19 and 85 percent effective against severe cases of the virus.
Comparatively, the two-dose Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are approximately 95 percent effective.
Healthcare officials noted that it’s not possible to contract COVID-19 from receiving the vaccine, as none contain coronavirus, and if one does get vaccinated with any of the three, they are unlikely to experience extreme symptoms compared to someone who is unvaccinated.
In those cases, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that “the resulting infection is more likely to have a lower viral load, may be shorter in duration, and likely less risk of transmission to others.”
Of the eight positive cases on the Yankees, only Nevin has shown symptoms, the others were all asymptomatic cases.
All eight continue to test positive, though there were no new cases on Thursday, May 13.
“There is still concern," Yankee Manager Aaron Boone said. "I think the one positive right now is that today was the first day of no new cases.
“All saliva tests from yesterday that have come back in today were all negative. I hope that is good news and hopefully means we're moving in the right direction."
Officials noted that the Yankees hit the MLB-recommended 85 percent threshold to have Tier 1 members of the team vaccinated, and have been playing under the league’s relaxed health and safety protocol.
However, for Thursday’s game, masks were back on in the dugout and the team was showing extra precautions following the positive tests.
“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,” the Department of Health said in a statement.
“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.”
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