Second player losing their items on console splitscreen multiplayer

So I just came back to Minecraft after a long time away from my Xbox one s, and now that the 1.16.210 update is installed, when a second player enters split screen, their items are all lost and they are at the world spawn. This actually has been happening occasionally since 1.16, and I believe the trigger was the second play not signing in before attempting to join, but now it always triggers and doesn’t resolve after quitting and restarting the game or even restarting the console. I had really good gear and items (Well enchanted netherite gear+tools, totems of undying) and was just about to fight the Ender Dragon, and now I’m scared to load up any other worlds in fear of losing my items. Is anyone else also having this issue and does anyone know of any potential solutions?