Rapids' COVID Outbreak Spreads

After the Athletic reported it this afternoon the Rapids announced this evening that 7 more staffers and another player have tested positive for COVID-19, making 9 staffers and 2 players so far.  Team practices have been shut down since the first positives on Thursday and everyone is in isolation and conducting daily testing.  Standard quarantine rules makes it very unlikely that Saturday's game in Portland will be played.

Even if nobody else tests negative and the Rapids could return to practice before Saturday its unclear who would run the training.  Front Office staff (other than probably Padraig Smith) have not been allowed at the Dick since the pandemic started so the outbreak is almost certainly limited to the technical staff.  With Fraser only having 3 assistant coaches, 3 equipment staff, and up to 13 medical staff (though my guess is that a number of them aren't regularly at the Dick during pandemic) the odds are most of the coaching and leadership are part of those 9 staff members.  Hopefully there hasn't been overlap between the first team staff and the youth academy.

Wednesday Oct 21st and Wednesday November 5th are open dates for the Rapids, Timbers, and Sporting KC so look for make up dates for the missed games around then.  But those are the only open dates the Rapids have left, so its going to be weekend-Wednesday-weekend from hear on out once that return to play, hopefully, next Wednesday.  That assumes that the league decides to make up the games, they may make them optional and only played if they materially impact the playoff picture.