In a step that is unanimous across four main United States professional sports, the limiting of personnel that is allowed into the locker rooms and clubhouses has been put into immediate effect, according to a joint statement released Monday night, caused by the spreading cases of coronavirus from across all areas of the world.

The personnel that are being deemed allowable into the locker rooms are ‘essential,’ meaning that besides the players, members of the training staffs, team front offices, and other members directly tied to each of the teams playing in the games are going to be given locker room access, but no outside media personnel will be allowed to conduct their regular locker-room videos and media sessions after a game.

The following statement was released by the MLB after they had discussed their actions with all 30 franchises:

“The health and safety of everyone in our communities is of the utmost importance to us. We have been engaging on an ongoing basis with a wide range of public health experts, infectious disease specialists, and governmental agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to obtain the latest information. We are regularly conveying the guidance from these experts to Clubs, players, and staff regarding prevention, good hygiene practices and the latest recommendations related to travel. We are continuing to monitor developments and will adjust as necessary. While MLB recognizes the fluidity of this rapidly evolving situation, our current intention is to play Spring Training and regular season games as scheduled.

On a temporary basis, effective on Tuesday, only players and essential personnel may enter locker rooms and clubhouses at MLB facilities. In a joint step with other professional sports leagues, we are requiring that Clubs relocate media availabilities to another area in their facilities.

Clubs will be expected to provide best efforts in facilitating usual media coverage and access to uniformed personnel and team officials in these alternate settings. Access for and coverage by the BBWAA and all media are vital to our game and we hope to resume normal operations as quickly as possible. We appreciate the media’s cooperation with this temporary step, which is being taken out of an abundance of caution for the best interests of all.”

For how it pertains specifically to the MLB, the media will be forced to relocate their reporting efforts to a designated area outside of the normal player locker rooms, which will easily force reporters and other media personnel to make do with their new digs, which will not go over well with everyone involved but obviously makes sense given the current situation.

Health is the name of the game now, and with it comes heightened precautions that will hopefully act as successful deterrents to limit any sort of the spread of the virus. No direct changes have been noted as of yet for how it will alter the fan atmosphere in games moving forward, but with talks ongoing for how to best limit the potential spread of this virus, it is surely not out of the question that limited fan interactions and attendance during games will occur at some point.

The fact that the MLB regular season has not even started yet provides a sense of unknowing what may happen when the regular slate of games opens up, instead of having teams just playing games in warm-weather areas. With the news of the virus spreading and enveloping more and more people on a daily basis, the fact of the matter remains that any and all precautions that can be put into place will surely be deterrents now, but will ultimately help lessen the chances of a spread.

With all media interactions needing to occur in an area that is away from the players in their locker rooms, the discourse between the athletes and the media may rise a bit, especially if players are less willing to offer up insightful views about what just occurred if they are being swarmed in a small area outside of the comfort of what they are used to interviewing in, the locker room.

With no real end in sight for the spread of this virus, although the amount of cases in Asia and its surrounding countries seems to have plateaued (based on numbers early this week), the stance that MLB and other professional leagues across the United States are taking are strong but needed, especially in a time of vulnerability.