Cruise Ship Empties In Barbados; NCAA Will Play March Madness In A ‘Bubble’
The SeaDream I was carrying 66 crew and more than 50 passengers, with the majority of passengers hailing from the U.S. The ship reportedly had seven people aboard test positive for COVID. Those passengers left the ship Friday and were transferred to an isolation facility in Barbados.
USA Today:
SeaDream Cruise Ship With COVID-19 Cases Disembarks Passengers
Passengers on the Caribbean cruise that ended its voyage early after multiple passengers tested positive for COVID-19 were allowed to disembark in Barbados over the weekend. Sue Bryant, who lives in the U.K. and writes for Cruise Critic and was aboard the SeaDream Yacht Club's SeaDream I cruise ship, reported that on Saturday, "the Barbados government gave the go ahead for those of us who tested negative to fly home." (Thompson, 11/16)
South Florida Sun-Sentinel:
Thousands Volunteer For CDC-Ordered ‘Test’ Cruises
Tens of thousands of cruise enthusiasts have offered to volunteer for “test voyages” that the cruise lines have been ordered to run before they’ll be allowed to resume operations out of United States ports. And while cruise lines are so far keeping mum about what the actual test cruises will entail, requirements by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control suggest they’re not intended to be fun days at sea. (Hurtibise, 11/6)
In sports news —
The Wall Street Journal:
NCAA Will Stage All Of 2021 March Madness In Indianapolis ‘Bubble’
The coronavirus pandemic scrapped March Madness from the calendar in 2020. With Covid-19 infections surging to all-time highs, the National Collegiate Athletic Association announced Monday that the 2021 edition of its lucrative men’s basketball tournament will be played in a sequestered bubble at a handful of sites around Indianapolis. March Madness is usually a sprawling national affair, with 68 teams bouncing among 14 host cities en route to playing 67 games over a three-week span. But this kind of rapid-fire competition and constant travel isn’t compatible with stay-at-home orders or 14-day quarantine periods recommended by public health officials to mitigate viral spread of the coronavirus. (Higgins, 11/16)
AP:
Tennis Hub To Be Centered In Melbourne For Australian Open
The Australian Open and all the regular regional leadup tournaments are set to be staged in Melbourne in January as organizers aim to minimize health risks for players in the coronavirus pandemic. Tennis Australia plans to transfer tournaments usually held in Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and Hobart to Melbourne, where a quarantine and practice and playing hub will be set up. (11/17)
The Washington Post:
Washington Football Team Won’t Allow Fans At Next Game Amid Rise In Coronavirus Cases
The Washington Football Team will not allow any fans to attend Sunday’s game at FedEx Field because of a recent surge in confirmed cases of the coronavirus. (Jhabvala, 11/16)
Also —
USA Today:
LSU Ignored Law In Handling Complaints Against Guice, Others
For more than a year, people at the highest levels of the Louisiana State University athletic department fielded complaints about their prized running back, Derrius Guice. Early in the spring 2016 semester, a member of the LSU diving team told her coach and an athletic department administrator that Guice raped her friend after she’d passed out drunk at a party. (Jacoby, Armour and Luther, 11/16)
CNN:
University Of California Reaches A $73M Settlement Against Former Gynecologist Accused Of Sexual Misconduct
The University of California system has reached a $73 million settlement Monday with alleged victims of sexual abuse by a former obstetrician-gynecologist Dr. James Heaps. Heaps had worked part-time as a gynecologist at the University of California, Los Angeles's (UCLA) student health center from about 1983 to 2010, and was hired by UCLA Health in 2014. He was arrested in June 2019 and charged with sexual battery of two former patients in 2017 and 2018, to which he pleaded not guilty. (Holcombe and Moon, 11/17)
