Report: MLB closes spring sites for cleaning after positive COVID-19 tests

Major League Baseball is closing all 30 spring training complexes in Florida and Arizona for deep cleaning after multiple positive COVID-19 tests at several team facilities, sources told Bob Nightengale of USA Today.

No players or staff members will be permitted to access the facilities without a negative COVID-19 test result, according to Nightengale.

The closures are effective immediately.

Multiple teams closed their facilities on Friday after positive tests, including the Philadelphia Phillies and Toronto Blue Jays. The Phillies had five players and three staff members test positive, while a Blue Jays player on their 40-man roster exhibited symptoms of the virus.

None of the people who tested positive have been hospitalized, according to Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia.

The Blue Jays player in question recently spent time with Phillies minor-league players, sources told ESPN's Jeff Passan. The two teams' spring complexes sit five miles apart in Dunedin and Clearwater, Florida, respectively.

A Houston Astros player who was at the team's complex in West Palm Beach, Florida, tested positive earlier this week. A visitor to the San Francisco Giants' complex in Scottsdale, Arizona, and a family member of the visitor exhibited symptoms, leading to that camp's closure.

While spring training complexes are closed, major-league ballparks will remain open to players. The Tampa Bay Rays will continue to let players work out at Tropicana Field, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times.

Florida reported more than 3,800 new coronavirus cases Friday, setting a new single-day state record for the second day in a row, according to CNN. Cases also rose in Arizona, where a state-record 3,246 cases were reported on Friday, according to Alison Steinbach of the Arizona Republic.