While the light at the end of the tunnel may appear ever so close, the last few days have served as a reminder that the Cubs still have to keep their guard as they play baseball amidst a global pandemic.

Saturday afternoon, the club announced that first base coach Craig Driver had tested positive for COVID-19. Driver did not make the trip with the club to Pittsburgh and the club said that contact tracing had determined that no one on the traveling party was a close contact. The team conducted testing on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. All results from Wednesday, Thursday and Friday’s tests had come back negative from the travelling party.

“I definitely think that’s something that is an eye opener for sure,” David Ross said. “I think there’s been a couple of eye openers to start the season, I think, around baseball that should hit home and understand that this is still a very serious pandemic that we’re in. We have to continue to stay diligent in all that we do.”

Ross said that Driver’s symptoms were mild and he took in Thursday’s win over the Pirates from Chicago.

“I think he’s just a little under the weather but was happy to see us score a lot of runs after I talked to him,” Ross said. “That was nice. He said he would stay away as long as we kept putting up those types of runs. He’s in good spirits as far as that goes.”

The last few days have been a roller coaster of emotions for Ross and the Cubs as they went through all the tests and awaited results. Saturday there was a sense of good fortune and of pride in the Cubs’ commitment to protocols.

“I think it’s both,” Ross said. “I think it’s a mixture of everybody wearing their mask and trying to stay as diligent as possible and also some luck. There are times when you take your mask off and times that you eat or drink. There’s moments throughout the day that come and go. As much as a reminder this is, I think that we feel lucky and that we were following protocols as best as we can.”