Nationals Players, Coaches Clear CDC Protocol After Juan Soto COVID-19 Diagnosis

Other Washington Nationals players and staff members have apparently cleared protocol from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention after Juan Soto tested positive for COVID-19.

Hannah Keyser of Yahoo Sports shared the team's statement that said "contact tracing was conducted and none of our players or staff were deemed to have met the CDC definition of close contact. We will continue to follow MLB's protocols and guidelines."

This comes after general manager Mike Rizzo told reporters Soto tested positive and was asymptomatic after testing negative multiple times.

Soto played in Tuesday's exhibition against the Baltimore Orioles, so it is not difficult to envision a situation where other players were exposed depending on when he caught the virus. Allen Kim and Jacob Lev of CNN noted he was tested Tuesday with results coming in Thursday morning, although other players tested negative.

Nationals manager Dave Martinez previously said, per Bradford William Davis of the New York Daily News, "[MLB] went through all the contact tracing, [and] they said everybody else was good."

However, he also said "the guys closest to [Soto]" were undergoing further evaluation.

Martinez was also asked how he felt about the league's protocols and said, per Keyser, "I'm a little bit more concerned now until we get our next round of tests results and they come back negative."

Soto cannot return to the team until he tests negative twice over a span of at least 24 hours.

The 21-year-old was a key part of the team's World Series title last year and slashed .282/.401/.548 with 34 home runs and 110 RBI.