#Aroldis Chapman’s coronavirus forces Yankees’ ‘waiting game’

Aroldis Chapman still has the coronavirus, so there’s no telling when the Yankees closer might return.

General manager Brian Cashman said Wednesday that Chapman remains at his home in New York and needs two negative tests before he can rejoin the Yankees.

“He’s been testing positive since he’s been diagnosed,’’ Cashman said Wednesday on a Zoom call.

Cashman added Chapman has been “mostly symptom-free.”

“It’s more of a waiting game,” the GM said on the eve of the Yankees’ opener.

Cashman compared Chapman’s situation to the one the Yankees found themselves in with DJ LeMahieu and Luis Cessa, who also didn’t have bad symptoms after testing positive. LeMahieu’s status for Opening Day was still up in the air, Aaron Boone said Wednesday, while Cessa, though having since tested negative for the virus, continues to need more time before he is ready to be put on the roster.

Unlike LeMahieu and Cessa, Chapman tested positive after reporting to camp, and Cashman said the Yankees were fortunate not to have had an outbreak after doing contact-tracing with around 15 people.

While Chapman is out, Zack Britton will serve as the Yankees’ primary closer.

“That’s where the depth comes in,’’ Cashman said. “It’s nice to have excitement with the team we have, but we’re not at full strength. We enter Washington, D.C., here without our star closer.”

It’s a depth that was severely tested a year ago, when 30 players spent 39 stints on the injured list.

This season, COVID-19 brings an entirely different dimension.

“The depth of this franchise is gonna be tested once again right out of the gate,’’ Cashman said. “We have a lot of players on this roster capable of a lot of different roles and more so than ever, we’re gonna be leaning on those players to lean into roles sometimes that they’re not used to. But in this case, obviously, Zack Britton has done this before. Hopefully that serves us well.”

Chapman is part of a deep bullpen along with Britton, Adam Ottavino and Chad Green — among others — that excelled a year ago, but the Yankees’ season ended when Chapman allowed a game-winning homer to Houston’s Jose Altuve in Game 6 of the ALCS.