#Derek Jeter denies Marlins COVID-19 rumors, throws MLB under the bus

The COVID-19 outbreak resulting in positive tests for 18 players in the Miami Marlins’ clubhouse is not the result of going to bars and clubs, CEO Derek Jeter told media members Monday. The situation is leading to calls MLB should halt its season.

Lou Williams broke NBA quarantine rules when he went to strip club Magic City in Atlanta to satisfy a hunger for their famous chicken wings.

“There is no way to identify how this got into our clubhouse,” Jeter said. “Our guys were not running around town in Atlanta. We did have a couple individuals leave the hotel. We had guys leave to get coffee, get clothes. No salacious activity.”

The Marlins have not played since July 26 in Philadelphia, the second leg of a season-opening road trip that began in Atlanta.

“Some of our traveling party had a false sense of security,” said Jeter, the Hall of Fame former Yankees shortstop.

Jeter said the Marlins players are either asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic. He denied reports the team decided on its own to play on July 26 knowing four players tested positive and said it was a call made by Major League Baseball and its committee for COVID-19 response.

“I’m not mad. I’m not a medical expert, either,” Jeter said. “Hindsight is 20/20. You look back and say, ‘Oh, well you know, we shouldn’t have played,’ but it’s important to point out the fact that you don’t know where it came from. You don’t how quickly it spread.”

Jeter said there is no way to identify the first person infected.

“It would be hard to say that the protocols weren’t good because we made our own fair share of mistakes,” Jeter said. “I think that we are making adjustments as a league and making adjustments to the protocols.”

The St. Louis Cardinals have not been in the same places as the Marlins and now are dealing with their own relatively smaller outbreak postponing games.