Cardinals expect COVID test results Monday: ‘Containing is now our main focus’

Milwaukee — As he and the team waited for test results that would determine whether they headed for Detroit, as scheduled, or faced another wave of uncertainty and isolation, president of baseball operations John Mozeliak attempted to capture the claustrophobia the Cardinals feel quarantined in their downtown Milwaukee hotel.

“It’s really trying times right now,” he told MLB Network Radio on Sunday morning. “Fingers crossed we can get to a point where our curve flattens.”

The Cardinals have issued a statement that they won’t have complete results Sunday night and are instead expecting them Monday morning. The team had already planned to spend the night in Milwaukee and travel to Detroit later Monday.

What information they get from results will determine their plans.

The Cardinals entered the day braced that as many as four inconclusive results from Saturday could be confirmed positives. The Cardinals have received notice Sunday that they have new positives, and there have been a variety of reports that suggest multiple new positives. ESPN used the term “multiple” in its reporting.

On Saturday, the Cardinals had four new positive tests (for six total, including the previous confirmed new positives) according to the rapid exams done by Medical College of Wisconsin on Friday. Of those four, the Cardinals had two confirmed positives, based on the testing done by MLB at its lab in New Jersey. The other two, however, were part of the group of four tests labeled inconclusive because the results had discrepancies.

More:Tigers ready to 'mix it up' with Cardinals after rare but important day off

The four members of the traveling party who had inconclusive results were one player and three staff members.

They were tested again.

The entire team underwent additional testing Sunday at their hotel.

The Cardinals had three players receive confirmed positive COVID-19 tests. Two of them were already driven back to their homes in the St. Louis, and the third had been isolated and identified via contact tracing before the positive test was confirmed.

More:MLB cancels Cardinals-Tigers game Monday, reschedules 4-game series at Comerica

An official with the team said that its travel plans and rewrite of the schedule to play four games in Detroit had taken into consideration the possibility of the four inconclusive results would become confirmed positives.

More:Cardinals contact tracer finds ‘tricky balance’ in new role

Any new positive tests beyond that would force the team to reassess.

The Cardinals remained quarantined and separated from each other at their hotel, where they have been isolated and unable to go anywhere since Friday morning. The previous night, the Cardinals learned they had two confirmed positives for COVID-19.

“We had someone that was infected and unfortunately it was someone that was able to spread it,” Mozeliak said during the radio interview with MLB Network Radio. “Containing is now our main focus.”

The rolling nature of the tests, the various reports, and the numbers being thrown out can get tricky and confusing.

Timeline of events

► Cardinals had scheduled testing Wednesday night at Target Field before final game of a series against the Twins. They traveled that night to Milwaukee and arrived late.

► They have their off day Thursday in Milwaukee.

► Shortly before 11 p.m. St. Louis time, the team is notified that two players have confirmed positive tests for COVID-19. Those tests were taken Wednesday. Those players are isolated from the team. By 6 a.m. the next morning, the entire team is in lock down at its Milwaukee hotel. Daily testing ensues.

► Contact tracing begins.

► Team identifies a third player likely to test positive based on contact tracing. Steps are taken to ensure that player is distant from the team, an official said.

► The Cardinals undergo rapid-results exams conducted at hotel by a local group contacted by the Brewers, and those results yield four new positives on the 58-person traveling party beyond the two already confirmed. The Cardinals know that number could change as they await the results of the saliva samples sent to the MLB lab.

► On Saturday evening, Mozeliak, in a conference call with St. Louis reporters, reveals that the team has two additional confirmed positives, based on the MLB exams. A player, the one identified by contact tracing, and staff member have positive tests. That brings the total to four confirmed positives. (The team is not identifying the individuals if they exercise the right to medical privacy.)

► In the same round of testing, from Friday, the team also has four inconclusive results, and the followup tests are pending. That foursome includes one player and three staff members. The staff includes all support personnel, not just coaches and management.

► On Sunday, the Cardinals receive word they have at least an additional positive test, though they are still in the process of getting the results. The team expected to have clarity on the inconclusive results and word on whether the virus had spread within the team beyond them. The team is expecting tests results Sunday evening.

► The Cardinals spent Sunday isolated in the hotel.

► Their current schedule has them traveling to Detroit for a workout at Comerica Park on Monday. They are planning to open a four-game series Tuesday evening at Detroit.