Cardinals cleared to play after COVID-19 outbreak

Aug. 5 (UPI) -- The St. Louis Cardinals have been cleared to return to the field after 13 members of the team's traveling party tested positive for COVID-19.

The Cardinals' president of baseball operations, John Mozeliak, told reporters Tuesday that the team had all of its tests return with negative results for a second consecutive day and can return to the field Friday.

The Cardinals are scheduled to host the Chicago Cubs in their first game since July 29 at 8:15 p.m. EDT that day at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. The team will continue to be tested daily,

Mozeliak said it was "uplifting" to get the good news of negative tests results after the team's tough week.

MLB announced Friday that two members of the Cardinals' traveling party tested positive for the coronavirus. MLB later announced the outbreak grew to seven Cardinals players and six staff members.

The Cardinals' series against the Milwaukee Brewers and two series against the Detroit Tigers were postponed due to the outbreak.

The 13 people who tested positive have returned to St. Louis to go into quarantine. The rest of the team plans to return to St. Louis on Wednesday.

The Cardinals will have to rework their plans after missing nine games due to the outbreak. They will have to play 55 games in 52 days if they hope to complete their 60-game schedule.

The Miami Marlins -- who had 18 members of their traveling party test positive -- returned to the field Tuesday after not playing since July 25 due to a team outbreak.

The Cardinals are scheduled to play in St. Louis through Aug. 12 before road games in Chicago against the Cubs and White Sox.