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Pandemic Baseball Is Here. Is This What You Want?

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The most famous man at Nationals Park on Opening Day stopped to take a photo with a fan on his way in. Then, like everyone else entering the stadium, he got his temperature taken.

“97.3!” chirped the staffer holding the infrared thermometer.

And then 79-year-old Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, strode into the ballpark.

That morning, the Nationals had learned that their youngest and brightest star, 21-year-old left fielder Juan Soto, had tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.