COVID and the Indians

So, with all the other issues this team has, we have the Clevinger/Plesac fiasco.

Don't get me wrong.   This is "a condition of employment' level issue.  That is, you want to work for me, you will follow my rules or you will not be able to work for me.

However, this is not the only thing that is wrong with the whole COVID bubble thing.  With my subscription to Indians broadcasts I see as much as STO shows about what is going on in the game.   

The key here is what Clevinger and Plesac did, selfishly, to potentially bring COVID into "the bubble".   However, as the Cardinals have said about their outbreak, it is not only what is going on that lets COVID in, it is what goes on inside the bubble that allows it to spread.  That is, if internal protocols are not followed the virus can spread rapidly through the bubble.  And that is where I see a problem.  

Here are some of the recent examples:

1/ Jordan Luplow, after his first hit/HR of the season went, COVID-wise ballistic..  High-Fiving people, screaming in the face of people on the on-deck circle and in the dugout

2. Jose Ramirez, without a mask on, not social distancing at all from Francisco Lindor (who was wearing a mask).   Ramirez took has hand and wiped it over his face, wiping off the sweat while all the time touching things around him that others could have touched.   Lindor, sitting right next to Ramirez, took off his mask to year down to someone at the other end of the dugout.   He did put his mask back on but, still,   Plus both of them were standing with their hands on the rails at the front of the dugout.

Pitchers without masks and not putting their gloves over their faces, talking to catchers and pitching coaches in mound visits.

Not everyone in the dugout has a mask on and, in fact, Francona generally doesn't wear the mask over his nose, just over his mouth (one of my big pet peeves in mask wearing!).

Another point.   Maybe the cameras don't show it but I have not seen a single container of disinfectant wipes in the dugout and I have never seen a player going for hand sanitizer in shots of the dugout.  Don't know if that means it isn't happening but it does beg that question, doesn't it?

And this could just be the tip of the iceberg as the game cameras don't catch pre-game warmups.   What goes on in places like the locker room I assume is more well-regulated by the team.   But still....

In summary, there are two aspects to controlling this virus in baseball:

Don't let the virus in

Assume that it is "in" and don't let it spread.

You can't have one conversation without the other, because it is going to get in.  Even the most diligent nursing homes are showing that because you THINK you are doing so much to keep it from getting in your bubble that you relax a little bit about the internal procedures when, really, you need to treat internal situations like it is already in.   

The former is logical but I think, more than Clevinger/Plesac which is a totally separate issue of trust and truth, the latter is what would keep situations like this from spreading.   

So while the Indians are absolutely right in their public chastising of these two young men, they need to be more diligent inside their bubble or it looks like they are just handling the public part of the equation whereas the private part, what happens inside the bubble, does not appear to be being appropriately policed.