07232020 NEWS AND SPORT

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VOLUME:117 No.165, JULY 23RD, 2020

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IF YOU FLEW IN - QUARANTINE

PM pleads for new arrivals to self-isolate

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net

PRIME Minister Dr Hubert Minnis apologised yesterday for the distress people experienced when they arrived in New Providence from Grand Bahama on Tuesday and were unexpectedly quarantined at a government-designated facility.

He said health officials were overwhelmed by the number of people who departed Grand Bahama

after he announced a twoweek lockdown to curb the spread of COVID-19 on that island, with hundreds of people likely leaving Grand Bahama for New Providence on Tuesday.

The Tribune understands that in addition to three Bahamasair flights carrying a total of 199 people from that island, there were eight Western Air flights that flew to New Providence when normally only four Western Air flights leave

ATLANTIS is considering postponing its reopening until November, Tourism Minister Dionisio D’Aguilar said yesterday.

“They haven’t given me a specific date that I’m aware of but in our discussions it seems a period slightly before Thanksgiving and I

GOVT MAY STEP IN AND HELP OUT BPL

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

THE government may be forced to give Bahamas Power & Light a further bail-out if too many of its 16,000 delinquent customers fail to pay their arrears, a Cabinet minister warned yesterday.

Minister of Works Desmond Bannister told Tribune Business that businesses and households under COVID-19 related financial stress must “live up to their responsibilities” and be proactive in addressing their debt rather than simply hope BPL will not disconnect them.

Adding that he “expects Bahamians who can pay, will pay”, Mr Bannister reiterated that collecting on outstanding bills was “the only way BPL can survive”.

MUM-TO-BE JAILED FOR CAR ATTACK

By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

SEE PAGE FOUR

A PREGNANT woman who admitted to hitting a teenager with her car earlier this week was sentenced to six months in prison in Magistrates Court yesterday.

Tiffany Johnson, 23, appeared before Senior Magistrate Carolyn VogtEvans charged with assault with a dangerous instrument and causing harm, after she was accused of assaulting and injuring a 17-year-old boy with her vehicle on July 20.

think they caveat it to say ‘we’ll gauge to see how the situation is going and will make an adjustment if it’s to be before then’,” he told reporters at the House of Assembly.

“They indicate that within ten to 14 days they could get that hotel back up but everyone seems to believe that (with) Baha SEE PAGE TWO

L SOUR CE

FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS

ATLANTIS MAY REMAIN SHUT UNTIL NOVEMBER

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net

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PASSENGERS arriving at LPIA yesterday

Photo: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff

LLOYD DETAILS PLAN FOR NEW SCHOOL YEAR

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net

EDUCATION Minister Jeff Lloyd yesterday outlined the extraordinary changes public school students and parents could expect when classes resume this fall while stressing that the resurgence of COVID19 means national exams have only been suspended, not cancelled.

“It is imperative that all

JEFF Lloyd yesterday examination candidates continue their preparation for the exams,” he said.

“Parents, students and all others are advised that this suspension is not a pass to relax efforts toward exam preparation. These crucial examinations, which serve as substantial credentials for students, will be administered as soon as clearance is given by the competent authority.”

Mr Lloyd said public schools will reopen on September 21 as they usually do and will feature three

Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper

SEE PAGE THREE

SEE PAGE SEVEN

FRONT PORCH

BY SIMON SEE PAGE EIGHT

PAGE 2, Thursday, July 23, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

CORONAVIRUS CRISIS

Atlantis could remain shut until November

from page one Mar saying they will open up the first week of October, they may end up moving in sync because when you do that, it makes sense to get the airlift back, to build that scale.

“Our first objective is to

get the current situation under control. When we go back to opening up to international travel obviously now we’ve had a learning situation and we know what the issues are and we will put in place the necessary protocols to ensure that we don’t resurge. You are constantly battling in this position. On the one hand you’re advised to keep everything locked down. And then on the other side you have people saying I need to go to work, I need to feed my children, I need a job, so it’s trying to strike that balance and it’s the hardest thing to do.”

Mr D’Aguilar said Atlantis has not indicated whether it will lay off any staff. “We can’t bury our heads in the sand,” he added. “We can’t imagine that it’s going to open up and go right back to what it was and all those people will go back to work. I’m sure there’s some discussions even internally among themselves about what they’re going to do and how they’re going to ramp up.”

Baha Mar, which plans to reopen on October 1, recently indicated it will lay off 1,200 employees and

TOURISM Minister Dionisio D’Aguilar new information daily and will share reopening updates on its website and through its social media channels.

“Since the onset of the pandemic, Atlantis remains vigilant in its actions to protect the health and safety of its guests and team members.”

This week, Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis announced a ban on international commercial travel except from the United Kingdom, Canada and the European Union. Private flights and pleasure boats are still allowed entry from the United States, providing visitors meet COVID-19 entry protocols.

began this process several weeks ago.

Atlantis recently announced that it has opted for an “extended closure” until the health risks from COVID-19 subside. Its move came days after the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention extended its ‘no sail’ order on the cruise industry until September 30, 2020.

Atlantis was previously set to reopen on July 30.

“The extension comes as the growing number of confirmed COVID-19 cases reported across the resort’s key U.S. markets continues to rise,” the resort said in a statement earlier this month. “Atlantis is tracking

WE’RE STILL NEGOTIATING OVER GRAND LUCAYAN - D’AGUILAR

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net TOURISM Minister Dionisio D’Aguilar said the government is still negotiating the sale of the Grand Lucayan resort, suggesting yesterday that the commitment of developers may not be as firm as it was before the COVID-19 crisis.

“It’s not a good environment to be trying to strike a deal with a company that is in as much distress as they are in,” he said, referring to Royal Caribbean International, which has partnered with the Mexican-based ITM group to invest some $300m in the hotel.

The purchase deal and heads of agreement for the Grand Lucayan resort were signed in May. Some 3,000 direct and indirect jobs were promised.

Mr D’Aguilar said yesterday: “You’re either going to buy it or you’re not going to buy it. Every one of the projects we’ve done have been done with cruise companies and every cruise company, we have to face it, is fighting for survival

and they’re fighting for their core business which is taking people, putting them on ships and sending them around. The next tier in their importance is obviously the destinations.

Some of them they own, some of them they go to.

It’s the new reality. They’re obviously all fighting for survival and the decisions and the investments and the commitments they could’ve made six months ago they can’t make now so it’s just a completely different environment.”

Mr D’Aguilar suggested the developers are distracted as the COVID-19 crisis continues to ravage businesses around the globe.

He said: “We have Disney in South Eleuthera, all their parks are closed, their cruise ships have been brought to a dead halt, you’ve got Carnival, the largest cruise company in the world, they’re at a dead stop, Royal Caribbean is going to do the Grand Bahama project, Carnival is going to do the Grand Bahama project, you got Virgin in Bimini, they

were just about to launch, I think they were one week away from their first stop in the Bahamas and then of course we shut down.

“So a lot of these companies are having to first and foremost fight for survival. What are they doing, they’re going out and borrowing billions of dollars to try and stay afloat because they understand for example Carnival has like a billion ships, they’re all just sitting there, burning everyday. You can’t just park it anywhere because no one ever contemplated ‘oh these cruise ships going to some place and just sitting still’ so you got no place to park them so they have to sit out in the ocean, they have to float up and down, you got a crew on board, you have to burn fuel, you have to feed them, you have to keep the systems going.

“Then you have to think about how you are going to repurpose your business.

Before it was pack ‘em in, mass tourism, now you got to think about how that is going to go. Needless to say they’re slightly distracted by that.”

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, July 23, 2020, PAGE 3

CORONAVIRUS CRISIS from page one instructional models: faceto-face, hybrid learning and online learning.

He said parents who choose the online learning model will have to register with the homeschooling unit of the Ministry of Education.

“While more students can be accommodated in a virtual classroom, we are aware that this is not the most ideal learning option for our pre-primary, lower primary or special education students,” he added.

“We further recognise that between 9am to 3pm Monday through Friday, our schools provide safe spaces for many of our children. With online learning, that duty of care shifts to the home or others and must be well managed if learning is to be successfully carried out. We further recognise that some parents and guardians are not equipped to assist students as needed and some students are unable to selfregulate. With this in mind we invite our community stakeholders, to consider providing flexible working hours for our parents and guardians, so they would be in a better position to spend more time at home between 9 am through 3 pm.”

He added: “There will be at all times, even

Lloyd details plan for new school year concurrently, a blend of these models. Let me be clear, The Bahamas is an archipelago – with schools in many different environments. Therefore, one size does not fit all. What works best in one scenario may not be best for another. It is possible, for instance, that the Euthal Rodgers Primary School in Deep Creek, South Andros, with an enrollment of less than 100 students, would be able to engage in a face-to-face daily model of learning throughout the day, week and year. In some schools, face-to-face will work.

In others it will not. For instance, in schools with larger student population, and with the necessity of observing all health protocols, face-to-face cannot work. We simply do not have the space to accommodate the total student body. If the spread of this virus abates, we will be able to proceed with the entire

EDUCATION Minister Jeff Lloyd in the House yesterday Photo: Kemuel Stubbs/BIS student body attending the school campus every day, all day. However, no matter what we do: the required

Baker’s Bay hit as 25 more cases confirmed

By TANYA SMITH-CARTWRIGHT ts-cartwright @tribunemedia.net

THE Ministry of Health confirmed 25 additional COVID-19 cases yesterday, including the first four cases for the Berry Islands, bringing the nation’s total to 219.

The are seven new cases in New Providence, 12 new cases in Grand Bahama and two new cases in Bimini, according to the latest dashboard. This comes as Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis announced yesterday in the House of Assembly plans to extend country’s state of emergency. He said the House of Assembly will debate an extension to the state of emergency resolution today.

In its latest update, the Ministry of Health did not mention any cases connected to Abaco, however sources on the island yesterday said a Bahamian contractor and a Mexican employee at Baker’s Bay have allegedly contracted the virus.

According to the latest information from the Ministry of Health, there are 114 confirmed cases of COVID19 in New Providence, 81 in Grand Bahama, 17 in Bimini, four in the Berry Islands, two in Cat Island and one confirmed case in Cat Cay. The youngest new case is an 11-year-old girl from Grand Bahama while the oldest is a 79-year-old woman from the Berry Islands.

The new Bimini cases are two women, aged 30 and 34-years-old.

Meanwhile, a relative of a Bahamian contractor working in Abaco said the man has fallen ill with COVID19 and is currently being treated at Doctors Hospital in New Providence.

Asked if his relative had COVID-19, the source said: “Apparently so. He was sick here in Abaco and went to Grand Bahama. Dr Knowles, the kidney doctor who has the place in Marsh Harbour, suggested that he leave Freeport and go to

Doctors Hospital in Nassau where he is now. He was transferred from Freeport to Doctors Hospital last night.”

The relative admitted that he didn’t have much details, but suggested that news of the contractor’s illness came from his daughter and the contractor’s sister who is a doctor in New Providence.

“I really can’t tell you much,” he said. “I just heard it myself last evening.

My daughter is in Nassau who spoke with his sister, who is a doctor. I spoke to my daughter on it. He is in Doctors Hospital and he is doing okay, but the doctor is watching him. That is the latest that I can tell you.”

The contractor resides in Grand Bahama, but commutes to Abaco where he works at Bakers’ Bay. He is in his early forties, according to the relative and a father of two children – one boy and one girl.

“I see where the media keeps reporting all day that my nephew is from Abaco,” the relative continued. “He is from Grand Bahama. He only comes here to Abaco for work at Baker’s Bay. He goes back and forth from Grand Bahama to Abaco and so forth because of work.”

The Tribune was also told that a Mexican construction worker, also employed at Bakers Bay, tested positive for COVID-19 as well. There were several attempts made to confirm this with authorities at Baker’s Bay to no avail.

“I understand that a Mexican worker was rushed to Nassau on a flight, with COVID symptoms,” a second Abaco source said.

“He was sick and showed full signs of COVID and had to be taken out. He is a part of the construction team at Baker’s Bay. “Now the contractor might have been the most exposed, as he had travelled back and forth from Grand Bahama and also travelled on a ferry with about 50 other people to Guana Cay and Bakers Bay.”

That same source also told The Tribune that a big group of Grand Bahamians came into Abaco for a funeral last weekend and held a large “gathering” at a bar in Crown Haven.

Grand Bahama will enter a two-week lockdown today due to the recent surge in cases there.

Health officials did not provide comment on the Abaco claims up to press time.

Editorial View - Page 6

health and safety standards will be rigidly observed and enforced.”

He said masks will be

worn, classroom capacity will involve 20 square feet per students, there will be staggered lunch times, general assemblies where crowds gather will be cancelled, multiple entry and exit points on campuses and additional buses to transport students to and from campuses will also be used.

“We recognise that some of our educators who have pre-existing co-morbidities and who may not be available for face-to-face instruction in the midst of COVID-19 would have to continue to utilise our online platform to assist with delivering instruction,” he said. “Additionally, we will have to redeploy some of our teachers according to their specialised skills in order to meet needs in certain specialised areas.”

As for the hybrid model, Mr Lloyd said a schedule has been worked out to ensure that on any given day no more than two thirds

of a school population is on campus.

He said: “There will be face-to-face everyday, for some groups on students.

All groups will attend three days per week. The three days that students engage face-to-face are allotted for delivery of content: here the teacher presents new information or a concept to students; differentiated instruction, the teacher assigns tasks to students according to their needs; guided practice, the teacher gives on hand direction to reinforce concepts taught; assessment, students’ are evaluated in person to ensure they truly master the content. Further details of the schedule in this model will be made available to parents and students in the coming weeks.”

Mr Lloyd said the new school term will begin with remote learning and may transition to a blended model over time if possible.

PAGE 4, Thursday, July 23, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

CORONAVIRUS CRISIS

ONE TRAVELLER ‘ANNOYED AS HELL’ BY HIS JOURNEY

By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

INCOMING Bahamian travellers from both Miami and Fort Lauderdale flights yesterday were allowed to quarantine at home but had to download an app for tracking, they told The Tribune.

This falls in line with Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis’ announcement on Sunday stating Bahamians and residents returning to the country without a negative RT-PCR COVID-19 test result from an accredited lab will be required to self-quarantine for 14 days upon return, via the

Hubbcat Monitoring App. However on Tuesday, passengers arriving from Grand Bahama ahead of the island’s two week lockdown were taken to a government quarantine facility. It is unclear how many of them were placed in the facility.

The Tribune canvassed the airport yesterday afternoon, which was the last day for US commercial flights to enter. Flights came from Fort Lauderdale on Bahamasair and Miami on American Airlines.

The process after landing seemed to be lengthy at Lynden Pindling International Airport. Navado Dawkins explained there

was insufficient staff and there should have been more people available to speed up the process.

“Actually two nurses are there taking the data and there’s one on the line preparing you for that,” he said.

“I met a girl in there, she came to me because I guess the nurse had told her I have an iPhone and she had an iPhone but she was knocked out of her iCloud.

She’s literally up there. She can’t get in her iCloud, so she can’t download the app and they tell her she has to wait …she near tears. This process is really annoying.”

Mr Dawkins was permitted to quarantine at home

and had downloaded the app. He had taken a test in June but the restrictions changed, requiring a negative COVID-19 result 10 days before departure.

His flight from Miami was delayed from 10.30am to 2.45pm and he said he was left “annoyed as hell” after his journey to Nassau.

“So I went to go board my flight today, had a horrible incident with clerk at the desk today. She had to call back Nassau to figure out if residents could come back without the online visa thing they had going on, which I had no idea either. They finally got the okay five minutes before the flight can closed to get

us out without the online visa.”

Although it is unknown when American commercial flights will resume, 21-yearold Monet McGlone still decided to come to the Bahamas. Asked why as an American she came, she said she is in a long-distance relationship and came to visit her boyfriend.

“I haven’t seen my boyfriend in about six months now so I want to see him before he goes off to med school before I finish my senior year of undergrad,” she told The Tribune.

“I definitely was a little anxious not knowing like when or if I’m going to be able to get back but at the

same time I have faith that I will be able to get back in time before, like, my college starts again.”

The Las Vegas resident said it took some time to schedule her COVID-19 test, making sure she was getting the right one.

“I had to reschedule my coronavirus test a few times in order to get the RT-PCR test because a lot of places in Las Vegas don’t state that it’s that kind of test even though it is,” she said.

“So it took until the day before to actually get my health visa approved and so that was kinda difficult but once it got approved everything was smooth sailing from there.”

PM pleads for new arrivals to self-isolate

from page one

Grand Bahama for New Providence each day.

Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Delon Brennen said officials are comparing their numbers to information from flight manifests.

It is not whether there were flights from Grand Bahama to Family Islands but the likelihood that some Bahamians and residents departed COVID-19 hotspots in recent days but were not quarantined by health officials prompted Dr Minnis to stress to The Tribune yesterday that people who visited Florida and Grand Bahama recently and do not have a negative RT-PCR test result should self-isolate for the 14-day incubation period.

“They should self-quarantine,” he emphasized.

“I’m not here to blame anyone and no one should be blamed,” he added during his communication in the House of Assembly.

“The virus is here, it’s not going anywhere and we must deal with it and we must always try and remain in front of it.

“Yesterday I made an announcement that we were locking the borders in terms of flights and crafts coming from Grand Bahama to other parts of The Bahamas. I’ve been advised that immediately after such an order, there were boats literally lined up at Grand Bahama,

especially at the east end that were moving throughout the family of islands and also attempting to move to New Providence.

As a result of that, we were forced with health concurrence to give orders to the Port Authority to ensure that no movement of vessels from Grand Bahama at this particular time to the other Family Islands and New Providence (occurred).

“I’ve also been informed that there was excess passenger load of individuals who wanted to come to New Providence and as a result of that the health system was essentially overwhelmed. The concern the health professionals had at that time was that individuals, and because of the excess numbers of individuals being brought to the capital, many of them would’ve been lost in the system and subsequently migrate and permeate into the society, throughout the communities and some could have possibly been positive which could’ve placed health (officials) in a difficult situation in terms of tracking and monitoring.

“As a result of that, the matter was discussed with health (officials) and an immediate decisions was made to try and obtain as many accommodations as possible and all individuals traveling from Grand Bahama would’ve been taken to such facility as a temporary quarantine measure so that

health could’ve done their work in terms of determining where individuals had to be located, making determination to ensure no individuals had been infected. This was all to prevent any form of infection moving out within the community.”

The people who arrived at LPIA from Grand Bahama complained of going hours without food and water. They said there was little communication to them about what was happening.

One woman, Julia Mellor, said she was appalled at the circumstances they faced as she described the flight delays and waiting around for answers. While at the Breezes hotel, she said people were crammed together and social distancing protocols were not enforced.

“I feel like my human rights to information and basic necessities such as food and water have been violated,” she said.

“I feel frustrated and disappointed.”

Dr Minnis acknowledged the distress the situation caused. “Obviously this would’ve caused great distress and duress and inconvenience for many Bahamians because they would not have known that such a measure had been taken,” the Killarney MP said. “But I want to assure them that such a measure was taken to ensure the safety not only

PASSENGERS arriving at LPIA yesterday, including Navado Dawkins, left.

Photos: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff of themselves but to ensure the safety and survival of the entire Bahamas.

“Therefore for the inconvenience I would like to apologise to those Bahamians who were definitely inconvenienced. Some may have had accommodations waiting for them and they too would’ve been placed in such temporary facilities until proper health investigation was completed. This was done in the interest of those individuals and in the interest of society to ensure there were no spread within our society. It is important to note that if we are not proactive and if we were at any point in time to fall behind, then we can run into grave, serious situations in that our medical personnel would eventually

become burnt out and that unable to function and that sector could run into the possibility of meltdown and subsequent problems that I would’ve discussed previously. We could have had episodes of rampant infections. We would not see it today, we would have continued moving around happily, socialising, some not following orders, others following orders and we wouldn’t have seen it today.

“However, 14 days from today we would see results of today. Therefore the movement was to avoid what could be seen 14 days from today after the incubation period is completed and we could’ve had severe spread throughout New Providence and the Family Islands. Therefore I urge

Bahamians that if they truly love their Bahamas that they must continue to follow the health orders, they must continue to wear masks, proper sanitation, social distancing, avoid parties, avoid socialising, avoid large gatherings because if they don’t we won’t see the effects until 14 days from today. What we do today, our discipline, or performance, our not socialising and our usage of sanitation today, how we act today we will see the results in 14 days.”

He added: “There are many out there who feel they could’ve done a better job. In 2022, the Bahamian populace will make that determination and whatever their outcome is, we’ll accept.”

CAT ISLAND RESIDENTS KEEN FEARS OF BIMINI LOCKDOWN TO COOPERATE WITH TRACING AFTER ANOTHER TWO CASES

By TANYA SMITH-CARTWRIGHT ts-cartwright @tribunemedia.net

AFTER two residents of Cat Island tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday, island administrator Neil Campbell said those who came in contact with them on the island are cooperating and making contact tracing easy for authorities there.

“So far everybody that I know of, that were advised, were very cooperative,” Mr Campbell advised. “These are some persons they would have been in contact with. I have no other information other than the fact that we have the two cases confirmed. They are now in New Providence. We would have put together our contact tracing list and we started to contact persons as of yesterday.”

Mr Campbell commended the Ministry of Health’s COVID-19 Surveillance Unit and COVID-19 Task Force for assisting the authorities on Cat Island in dealing

with the two positive cases, which were the first for the island. “There’s no new update other than the fact that we initiated our protocols and the Ministry of Health is now dealing with it. I think once you are open and honest in saying where you were at and once you would have made that public notice and people are aware, when you start calling them in reference to contact tracing and persons see that you are actually following the protocols then you can stave off any further spread,” he said.

Yesterday, Rollezz Villas Beach Resort owner Carl Rolle said he has no doubt the island will rebound swiftly, despite the two confirmed cases.

“We are not aware of any additional cases here in Cat Island besides the two,” Mr Rolle said. “Like anything it is a negative to have in an emerging market like ours, because people want to go to smaller hotels, boutique hotels to have that specialised care. It is kind of a bummer for us to hear

about these cases here on Cat Island, because we were really priding ourselves that we have exceeded the COVID-19 mandate by the Ministry of Health. We wanted to do all we can and more so that it doesn’t come here. In any respect, I think it might slow down, but I think Cat Island, especially Rollezz, will rebound and recover from this little mishap.”

As for Rollezz Resort, Mr Rolle said the boutique resort is ready for tourists and taking the necessary precautions with temperature scanners, a non-negotiable mask policy, plexiglass signage and lots of sanitising.

“Here at Rollezz Resort we have our temperature scanner,” Mr Rolle said.

“We are taking temperatures of everyone who comes to the resort. We were going out of our way to make sure that everyone that comes to Rollezz are wearing masks, we did everything that the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Ministry of Health recommended.”

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

BIMINI residents are fearful about another lockdown for the island after two new COVID-19 cases emerged there this week.

Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis imposed a full lockdown of the small island community on May 18 when some 13 residents had tested positive for the disease. The country’s first COVID-19 death was also a resident of Bimini.

During the shutdown, the government provided food and essential items for the 2,000 residents to ensure no one went without food.

“Residents are afraid of a shutdown, they were talking about it,” Charlie Wilkinson told The Tribune. “They just hate to go into that again.”

Mr Wilkinson is the operator of Charlie’s Native Bread in Bailey Town. He said he is prepared to deal with another lockdown if that happens.

After the lockdown ended on June 1, Bimini

had not recorded any new cases until Tuesday, July 21.

The main hotel on the island has closed down temporarily. However, visitors have been travelling by private air charters and by boat. The island’s economy recently experienced a significant boost in visitor arrivals on July 4, and on Sunday, a funeral was held on Bimini and some people from the US attended.

Mr Wilkinson noted that residents’ safety is most important. “If it has to be done, then it has to be done; if it will make the people more safer, then we have to do it,” he said.

When asked if his business could survive another shutdown, he said: “There is nothing we could do if we have to go through it. It is best to make everybody safe on the island.”

Nathan Hanna, of Nate’s Bimini Bread, said residents must protect themselves and their families from the virus by adapting to new protocols put in place, especially now that borders are open to visitors.

He insists that locals and

visitors entering his establishment wear a mask and sanitise their hands.

Mr Hanna said there will always be risks of infection once the borders are opened. “It is a back and forth thing with the infections, and we need to get control of it,” he said.

“We had a good turnout of visitors to the island on July 4, there were lots of people here. The hotel closed now, and I feel it for them, but people still coming here by private charter. All we could do is protect yourself, and do what the PM said, we got to take precautions,” he stressed.

“When people enter my bakery, you got to have a mask on. I have a box right there at the door if anyone needs a mask, and hand sanitizer is right there too as you walk in. Some of them is play crazy, but I tell them they can’t come in here if they don’t wear a mask and sanitise,” he said.

Some visitors are reluctant, but Mr Hanna says they too must abide by the country’s rules.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, July 23, 2020, PAGE 5

CORONAVIRUS CRISIS

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net OVERALL crime in the country declined by four percent between the months of January to June compared with the same period in 2019, according to Commissioner of Police Paul Rolle.

According to Commissioner Rolle, the police statistics show a considerable decrease in murders, armed robberies, sexual offences and domestic violence in the country compared with last year’s figures during that same period.

The figures were detailed in the RBPF’s mid-year report released at the Paul Farquharson Conference Centre at police headquarters yesterday. “Thus far, the year has been distinct compared to previous years in every aspect,” he said. “The first quarter of the year started normal.

However, by mid-March a worldwide occurrence took place as the COVID19 pandemic reached the Bahamian borders.

Drastic measures were subsequently put into effect to sustain the country and help to save lives.”

Despite the changes brought on by the global pandemic, the police chief said the RBPF remained committed to its mandate to protect the Bahamian people. Revealing the country’s murder statistics yesterday, Commissioner Rolle said homicides stood at 36, showing a 22 percent decrease compared with 2019, when 45 murders were reported up to the end of June.

New Providence recorded 25 murders, Grand Bahama eight and the Family Islands recorded three. Police believe conflict was the source for 24 percent of the killings.

The Commissioner also noted the detection rates for these crimes is

4% fall in overall crime, reveals Rolle 84 percent, which he partially attributed to public partnerships. “Thirty-one of the 36 murder cases have been solved which yields a detection rate of 84 percent,” he said. “This detection rate can be partially attributed to public partnerships. A number of the murder incidents surround illegal activities of local gangs, including Crack Nation, Mad Ass, One Order and Baby South. Some of the illegal activities involves the selling of illicit drugs and illegal firearms.”

As it relates to armed robberies, the commissioner said crimes in this category have decreased by 34 percent. There were 141 armed robberies reported to police compared to 215 last year for the same period. “Armed robberies occurred mostly in between the hours of 8pm and 10pm daily,” he said. “Most of the armed robberies occurred on the streets of residences, parking lots and businesses following close behind.

Firearms continue to be a weapon of choice for armed robbers.”

For sexual offences, the Commissioner said the RBPF’s sexual offences unit had recorded 83 cases, representing a 14 percent decrease. In 2019, 96 sexual offences were recorded for the specified period.

According to the police chief, 16 people have since been placed before the courts on sexual-related charges.

“These offences include

COMMISSIONER of Police Paul Rolle rape, unlawful sexual intercourse and attempted rape.

The unit was also able to charge 16 persons in these cases and put them before the courts,” he added.

“Investigators have noted a recent trend in sexual offence cases.

Young females are being targeted via social media and taken to the western area of New Providence and sexually assaulted.

There were two incidents that occurred during this period. The family liaison section at the Critical Investigation Department conducted a total of 68 family meetings, 119

follow ups and 72 referrals for counselling.”

The police chief also noted a decrease in domestic matters in the country, despite government officials reporting an increase of cases since the COVID-19 lockdown was implemented.

Last month, Social Services Minister Frankie Campbell told reporters his ministry had received increased reports of domestic abuse and child abuse since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

However, yesterday, the police chief maintained that domestic matters reported

to police decreased compared with the figures reported for 2019.

“Domestic matters, for the period in review, overall where domestic violence was a factor decreased by 51 percent with 1,263 incidents compared to 2019 when there were 2,576 incidents recorded.”

Asked yesterday if he thinks the figures were under-reported, the Commissioner replied: “What I gave you (are the) national crime report statistics showing that domestic matters reduced in the Commonwealth of The Bahamas by 51 percent and I stand

on that. I cannot speak for nobody else.”

The Commissioner also said 54 people have been reported missing to police.

The majority, he said, are young females who had been engaging in sexual intercourse.

Yesterday, the police chief touted the work of law enforcement as the source for the country’s overall decrease in crime.

However, he acknowledged that the COVID-19 restrictions implemented by the government have also contributed to a slow down in crime during this period.

“Everything we said we were going to do, we did and I’m not satisfied that everybody in The Bahamas feels safe, but I’m working towards that and we have to continue,” he told reporters.

“So, if (critics) want to sit on the side and criticise these figures, they can go ahead. . .but I would encourage (them) to come and partner with us so that they can keep their neighbourhood safe.

“The numbers will take care of themselves. Now, the lockdown, I’m certain must have had some help with the numbers because a lot of those persons who would’ve been to those places where businesses were closed, that would’ve been targets.

“But when you look at the bigger picture, I think you have to give credit to these men and women that you see sitting in the front.”

‘WE’VE ENOUGH OFFICERS TO POLICE GB LOCKDOWN’

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net POLICE Commissioner Paul Rolle said yesterday he did not see the need to send additional manpower to help enforce the two-week lockdown on Grand Bahama, insisting there are more than enough officers on the island to police the COVID-19 measures. His comments came after it was reported that several police officers on the island had tested positive for the COVID19 virus. The Tribune also understands that several others are also currently in quarantine.

Asked yesterday how many officers on the island had tested positive for the disease and were in quarantine, the police chief refrained from giving an answer. “You would have to ask the health people. I don’t know...I ain’t getting into any of that,” he said.

With over 400 officers and police reserves currently on

the island, Commissioner Rolle told reporters he did not believe more officers needed to be sent to assist with the enforcing of the COVID-19 measures.

“No, there is no need for that. I have 400 officers in Grand Bahama and 200 reserves. That’s more than sufficient.”

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis announced a two-week lockdown of the island after more than 60 cases were recorded there since the country re-opened its borders in early July.

All commercial and domestic flights and vessels have also been banned from entering the island except for those carrying essential goods and services.

Yesterday, Commissioner Rolle said he informed the relevant officials on Grand Bahama to ensure that the measures are being adhered to. “The measures in Grand Bahama to police the lockdown will be the same here in Nassau. I’ve instructed the assistant commissioner

and his team to put an operation in place to police the lockdown and to ensure that persons comply with it,” he told reporters.

According to the police chief, over 1,000 people have been arrested for curfew violations since the prime minister’s COVID-19 orders were implemented in March.

He said: “There (were) 1,099 breaches of the emergency orders itself and another 500 but overall it’s like 1,500 persons or matters that we dealt with so there were 1,070 breaches to the emergency curfew orders and 440 breaches to the other sections of the COVID-19 emergency orders during that period.”

The police chief said while a majority of Bahamians “have been cooperative” with most restrictions, officials have noticed more people not adhering to the social distancing guidelines.

During the crisis, there have been heightened calls for police to use their

BUSINESSMAN ACCUSED OF FAILING TO KEEP CUSTOMERS FAR ENOUGH APART

By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

A BUSINESSMAN who was accused of failing to ensure his employees and customers followed the regulations outlined in the COVID-19 emergency orders was yesterday granted bail ahead of his trial.

Samuel Kemp, 53, appeared before Magistrate Kara Turnquest-Deveaux charged with two counts of violating the emergency orders for restaurant and food vendors and one count of violation of emergency orders relating to physical distancing.

Kemp was accused of failing to ensure the customers and staff at Big Stick Restaurant and Bar maintained a physical distance of no less than six feet on July 17.

He was also accused of failing to ensure his staff and patrons wore masks covering their noses and mouths that same day.

During the hearing, Smith denied the allegations and the matter was adjourned to October 19 for trial.

Kemp was granted $3,500 bail with one sureter in the interim.

Two people were also charged with violating the national curfew yesterday.

Haram Kelly Jr, 55, was charged after officers found him on East Street around 10.40pm on July 18. He pleaded guilty and was fined $350 or one month in prison.

The prosecution said officers were on mobile patrol when they observed the defendant in a grey Honda. They then beckoned for the vehicle to stop and questioned the

driver, Kelly Jr, who did not give them a “reasonable” explanation for why he was outdoors during curfew hours. As a result, Kelly Jr was arrested. In an interview with police, he said he did not violate the emergency orders because he had permission. Still, the prosecution noted the letter Kelly Jr produced that day only gave him permission to collect garbage from 6am4pm. He was subsequently charged with the offence.

Tomicko Pierre was also charged after the prosecution alleged officers found him on Carmichael Road around 11pm on July 20.

He denied violating the national curfew during a hearing before Senior Magistrate Carolyn VogtEvans and the matter was adjourned to September 14 for trial. Pierre was granted $1,000 bail in the interim.

discretion when enforcing the COVID-19 orders.

Since the emergency orders were implemented in March, a number of homeless people have been convicted of violating the COVID-19 curfew.

Some residents have also complained about police stopping them in their cars and telling them to wear their masks, contrary to the prime’s minster orders.

Asked about the issue yesterday, the police chief said the situations like those could be a “miscommunication”.

He said: “I sent out

guidance to the officers that if you are in public, you should be wearing your masks. If you are in your cars driving by yourself, I don’t see the need to wear your masks but when I step out and if that happens just bring it to our attention and we will address it. It could be a miscommunication.”

He was also firm that police will not stop doing their duties to uphold the law. “The commissioner of police is answerable to the law and if the law says that curfew starts at 8 o’clock then that’s 8 o’clock. However, we do

have a little bit of discretion that we can exercise,” he noted. “And that discretion comes with if when you stop an individual and the individual is going to give you an explanation.

Well, then you have to determine whether you’re going to accept that explanation or not.

“The officers, we’ve been very co-operative in understanding members of the public but there will always be those who criticise (because) they didn’t get it their way. But I’m satisfied that the RBPF did an excellent job.”

PAGE 6, Thursday, July 23, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

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Fighting alone to earn victory together MUCH of the focus on battling COVID-19 has fallen on the efforts of the government.

The truth is, however, that the daily battle falls on the shoulders of all of us. The virus transmits from person to person, not from the government.

So it is our actions that drive the spread. When our actions are selfish, that increases the likelihood of spread.

We all hear stories, such as the reports of a large gathering at a bar in Crown Haven. We see the flood of people who departed Grand Bahama right at the moment when infections have been soaring there and ahead of the lockdown. We see the people going to stores not wearing masks. We see the people not keeping their distance.

Some of this is human nature. Some of it is being driven by fear to get away from infection. Some of it is trying to duck out on another lockdown after the frustrations of those we have been through already. But some of it is just selfishness, looking out for number one rather than thinking of those around us.

Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis said immediately after his order for a lockdown on Grand Bahama “there were boats literally lined up at Grand Bahama, especially at the East End that were moving throughout the family of islands and also attempting to move to New Providence”.

There were also excessive numbers of people boarding planes to head to New

Providence, leading to some being quarantined at a government facility.

Perhaps it was panic, perhaps it was selfishness, but the point of the order to shut down Grand Bahama was to isolate the infection, not to suddenly risk spreading it all across the nation.

Dr Minnis has called on those who visited Florida or Grand Bahama recently and who do not have a negative test result to self-isolate for 14 days. How many of those who took the brief opportunity to escape the site of an infection regardless of the consequences for others are likely to follow that instruction?

Worse, there are those who it seems are using fraudulent documents to pretend they are no risk – or using tests taken in The Bahamas to pretend they are safe to return from a short visit to the US. This is putting others in danger.

We need to unite as Bahamians looking out for our fellow countrymen and women. We need to act for the good of all, not for the good of ourselves. We need to fight the virus as a nation, but each part of that fight is on the individual level, each of us doing what we can to stop the spread. We should all act as if we might be infected, and behave accordingly to avoid giving it to others.

So follow the guidance. Follow the instructions. And don’t look for a way of bending the rules to suit ourselves. Medical experts are giving this advice for a reason – so follow it.

SELFLESSNESS also plays a part in the future of BPL. The Tribune has previously reported that 16,000 customers are delinquent in their bills. Now, many of those will have good reason. COVID19 has hit the nation badly, leaving many suddenly on furlough or out of work and struggling to find the money to pay their bills.

Now, a government bailout may be looming. The key to avoiding that? It’s time to pay up.

Minister of Works Desmond Bannister said he “expects Bahamians who can pay, will pay”. Worse, he said the “only

way BPL can survive” is if outstanding bills are collected.

Mr Bannister reminded those who cannot afford to pay their bills to contact BPL and explain, and perhaps set up an arrangement if possible. The company doesn’t want to disconnect people – but that’s what it’s come to. It can’t help you if you don’t talk to its workers.

We do not want the nightmare of the financial collapse of our electricity provider on top of dealing with COVID-19 and its consequences. That would be disastrous for the nation, and haven’t we faced enough disasters already?

Pay your BPL bill for the good of us all

Living in a time of madness and folly EDITOR, The Tribune THE toxic Corona Virus in The Bahamas seems to be bringing all the political would-bee out of the woods. They seem to be going rudderless, wild and crazy about what should be done to deal with the contagion in our country.

The American authorities have just announced that COVID-19 is not going anywhere - anytime soon. So, as the political heat in the country gets hotter, and our general election draws nearer with each passing day – Bahamians should be prepared to ask every political hopeful, what their policies are – and plans to deal with the deadly virus – if they are

successfully elected to serve the people.

Do not get distracted brothers and sisters. Get to know all those who seek to represent us, and what they stand for. They are giving the impression that they could do a better job.

Then, it is our right to question them about what is it that they will do different in a fluid COVID-19 environment.

Anyone could criticise and pretend to be the preferred Competent Authority; and that’s exactly what they are doing in the press, social media, and on the toilet. They are talking nanny left right and centre; and some of us are swallowing it all day, and everyday – without a break.

But talk is cheap, and money buys land. What are your COVID-19 strategy PLP, DNA, and all the rest?

Just criticisms and propaganda to help get elected?

That will not be sufficient. The Bahamian people have more sense than that!

We are paying attention to all the noise in the market, and so far – opposition forces in the nation are just barking their azzes off, and they really believe that that is cute and vote-catching.

Oh, what madness and folly is this, in these serious times?

DENNIS DAMES Nassau, July 22, 2020.

Understand our history EDITOR, The Tribune WHEN black Americans raised their placards and started marching in the thousands to inform their country and the world that “black lives do matter,” my thoughts slipped back many moons ago to recall a popular childhood saying – “monkey see, monkey do!”

I wondered how my Bahamian brothers, who had settled the race issue many years ago and had taken over the government of our country, would find an excuse to get into the act.

Time passed, and I waited. And then I heard that there was a small movement that wanted to erase our history by pulling statues down — statues that marked milestones in our historic growth from a colonial, slave past to where we are today – our own black leaders governing a mixed-race, independent nation! There is no longer any need to convince anyone that black lives are beautiful. All we have to do is show them that not only are we “beautiful”, but that we are fully capable of governing a nation made up of Bahamians from all backgrounds and walks of life.

However, instead of concentrating on the future, there are some, ignorant of their history, who seek the limelight by grabbing the headlines. Instead they end up making themselves look

LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net foolish in the eyes of those who know their ancestry. The latest is the threat to pull down the statute of Queen Victoria — “Auntie Vickie”, the one person who was much loved by black Bahamians. Today’s generation know nothing of this, but my generation were very aware of the awe and love that not only black, but all Bahamians had for “Auntie Vickie”.

Once you crossed under Gregory Arch into Grants Town, you were among “Auntie” Vickie’s people.

I became particularly aware of this during the Duke of Windsor’s governorship of the Bahamas.

The Duke while here could do no wrong in the eyes of black Bahamians — after all he was Auntie Vickie’s great grandson! But now today, there are some black Bahamians, ignorant of their history, who would pull her statue down? What blasphemy!

Do they not know that it was Queen Victoria, who had signed the declaration to abolish slavery on her ascension to the throne of England in 1837?

Do they not know that on the 24th of May every year, Bahamian children sang a little song that announced – “May 24th is the Queen’s birthday, if you don’t give

us a holiday we’ll all run away!” Every year as school children we celebrated the Queen’s birthday.

And as a little Queen’s College student I recall one year when our class with our little Union Jacks was taken to Fort Charlotte to sing our songs, wave our flags and sing happy birthday to our dear Queen “Vickie.” And, yes, May 24th was an official public holiday — it was dear Queen Vickie’s birthday!

The statue of Queen Victoria was erected in the public square on her birthday in 1905, where it sits today. And yet with all of our treasured history, there is so much ignorance in our midst that instead of trying to educate themselves there are those intent on destroying a past of which we should all be proud — particularly when we measure how far we have come.

Yes, she was a revered figure in the Bahamas where 85 percent of the population was made up of descendants of the African slaves that she had freed.

It would do well for today’s Bahamians to understand their history and try to make a worthwhile contribution to the stable growth of their country - instead of wasting their time letting their peers know how ignorant many of them are!

AN OLD TIMER Nassau July 21, 2002

My thanks to Victoria EDITOR, The Tribune PLEASE allow a space in your great daily, regarding Her Majesty Queen Victoria.

Thanking God for Queen Victoria, for stopping slavery in her kingdom, a lucrative business and with a small percentage of white people taking sides.

It must have been risky and high tension. Perhaps, the delaying, hoping Her Majesty would be revoked, slavery still existed among the tribal community.

In the movies you see black people as slaves,

others were slaves also.

During Biblical days kings would take the living into captivity, with gold and other precious items, after burning their kingdom.

Perhaps, black people, as a race, was the last going into slavery. St Paul told slaves to obey your masters. Yes slavery is over, slaves did suffer, fought, revolted, died and escaped, They are our heroes. We are recipient.

The Bahamas is so successful, there are hundreds of black doctors and lawyers, some are giving

up that famous title and becoming MPs, Senators, Speakers, Cabinet Ministers and Prime Minister, Business, Banks, Tourism, etc, etc. that other nations are coming to enjoy. A well trained high tech Police and Defence Force.

A christian nation with Archbishops, Bishops and Pastors. Passing by Queen Victoria’s statue as a freed nation.

Thanks very much Editor.

PAT BETHELL Nassau, July 13, 2020.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, July 23, 2020, PAGE 7

MUM-TO-BE JAILED FOR CAR ATTACK from page one

During her hearing, Johnson, who is four months’ pregnant, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to six months at the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services for count one and three months at BDCS for count two. Both sentences were ordered to run concurrently.

The court heard the teen was walking in the Nassau Village area when a woman drove her vehicle in his direction. The prosecution

said although the teen managed to jump out of the way, he still got hit by the car which resulted in him sustaining minor injuries. As a result, the boy and his mother requested police action. An investigation into the matter led to Johnson’s arrest. During an interview with police, she admitted to seeing the teen when she was driving her car on the day in question, but denied knocking him down.

When given an opportunity to speak, Johnson told the magistrate the teen had

gotten in front of her car and thrown a rock at her windshield that day. She also said she tried to go to the complainant’s father’s house to tell him what had happened, but he wasn’t home. Johnson claimed by the time she got to the police station to report the matter, the teen and his mother were already there so they “locked her up.” When asked how she knew the complainant, Johnson explained that she was friends with the teen’s sister. She said the two of them had a disagreement

in the past and “were going to have a fight,” but were able to settle their differences.

Still, Johnson said despite the fact they had made up, the 17-year-old would still throw jeers at her every time they saw each other. Johnson said she had filed an official complaint against the teen for his actions before, but never went back to check on the progress of the matters.

Still, after Johnson presented her plea in mitigation, the prosecution

LEARNING ABOUT FOOD

TWO CHARGED WITH DRUG POSSESSION A 26-YEAR-OLD man who was charged with marijuana possession yesterday was ordered to attend drug counselling classes.

Dwayne Davis, Jr, was charged with dangerous drug possession after officers seized 27 grams of Indian hemp from him on July 21. He admitted to the offence in a hearing before Magistrate Kara TurnquestDeveaux and was ordered to seek drug counselling at his own expense.

The court was told officers were on mobile patrol around 8.20am on the day in question, when they observed Davis, Jr, standing in a yard talking to another man. While they were talking, the defendant handed the other man an item before getting handed a plastic bag. When the men looked in the direction of the officers, one of them ran away. The officers then approached Davis Jr, who threw the bag on the ground. Upon investigating it, they discovered $80 worth of suspected marijuana.

During the hearing, Davis, Jr, was represented by attorney Jomo Campbell. He told the magistrate his client had a “drug problem” and asked her to send him to counselling, instead of giving him a custodial sentence.

However, Magistrate Turnquest-Deveaux noted that the Sandilands Rehabilitation Centre (SRC) was not admitting any more patients. As a result, she ordered the defendant to seek help at an “approved facility at his own expense”.

Davis, Jr, was also ordered

“It is clear the defendant turned her vehicle around to deal with the virtual complainant who allegedly threw a rock at her windshield,” she said.

“She took matters into her own hands (and) the court notes the increased occurrences of vigilante justice in the country which is causing a continuous cycle of revenge.

The court must be clear that it will not tolerate any form of vigilante justice. The defendant had the opportunity to do the right thing.”

Photos: Terrel W Carey Sr/Tribune Staff

PATRICIA Minnis, wife of Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis, attended the second day of a four-day food processing training workshop for members of the Women and Girls Mentoring Coalition yesterday.

The workshop is being held at the Food Safety and Technology Laboratories.

Mrs Minnis explained that the Office of the Spouse of the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Resources, led

by Keith Daley, senior food technologist, collaborated to spearhead the workshop where the women learned various ways of processing produce to potentially increase their earnings.

Mrs Minnis said: “I worked here at the department for many years and during that time as a food microbiologist, we had a great cottage industry here in The Bahamas; I would like to see that happen again so that women are able to bring in an income.”

She added that making jams, jellies and chutneys based on seasonal produce can cut down on household expenses when prices go up in the stores. She also noted that having this expertise is especially desirable during this time when many women find themselves laid off from their jobs or are waiting for resorts to re-open.

It is expected that 36 participants will go through the four-day training. “Hopefully when the tourism industry gets going, we would be able to get some of these products into the hotels because as I said in the past, in the ‘90s and early 2000s, we had a vibrant cottage industry where women were doing this at home and they were put into the stores,” Mrs Minnis, pictured bottom left, stated.

During the workshop, the participants made jams, jellies, mango chutney and pickled cucumbers.

By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

told the magistrate that the officers’ investigation into the incident proved that Johnson’s assertions were “unfounded”.

As a result, after sentencing the defendant, Magistrate Vogt-Evans told her the reason she was given a custodial sentence was because she committed a “serious offense”.

She also told Johnson while she sympathised with her pregnancy, she had an opportunity to report the most recent alleged assault and follow up on previously filed police reports.

to return to court next week to show proof of his registration and a record of how long the programme would last.

Yesterday, Wendell Seymour, 28, was also charged with simple possession after officers seized five grams of Indian hemp from him on July 19.

He also pleaded guilty and was conditionally discharged for three months.

If Seymour appears in court for a drug related matter within that time frame, he will be convicted of the offence.

The court heard officers were on mobile patrol in the area of Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA), when they noticed a purple Toyota parked in a no parking area. When they approached the vehicle, Seymour opened his car

door and a strong aroma of marijuana escaped from the vehicle. This prompted the officers to search the defendant’s car. During their investigation, they discovered a red container with four silver foil wraps all of which contained a quantity of marijuana.

According to the prosecution, the drugs had an estimated street value of $20.

NOTICE TO SHAREHOLDERS In light of the impact of the COVID-19 global pandemic, and in adherence with the protocols relating to the maximum number of persons allowed at an event, Commonwealth Bank’s Board of Directors has resolved to postpone the Annual General Meeting (“AGM”) until further notice. The safety and well-being of our shareholders, clients, directors, staff and community remain our utmost priority. We will advise shareholders of the date, time and venue of the meeting via advertisement.

A copy of the 2019 Annual Report can be downloaded from the Commonwealth Bank website at www.combankltd.com/about-us/ investor-relations

Charlene A. Bosfield Corporate Secretary

“Leader in Personal Banking Services” www.combankltd.com

PAGE 8, Thursday, July 23, 2020

FRONT PORCH

BY SIMON IN his national address this past Sunday, Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis warned the country: “The COVID-19 pandemic is still raging around the world and is getting much worse in some countries. The world is still in a global health emergency, with some health officials warning that things may get even worse, and worse and worse.”

Like a number of other nations, The Bahamas did exceptionally well in response to the COVID19 pandemic, though the government’s most disingenuous and militant critics are loath to admit any of these accomplishments, including various commentators who remain in full propaganda mode.

Countries ranging from Australia to Israel also did generally well at the outset of the pandemic but have experienced a subsequent surge in cases. The resurgence is due to a combination of the continued circulation of the virus, worsened by the irresponsible behaviour by some citizens during the reopening of domestic economies and societies and other factors.

There are now violent protests in Israel because the Israeli Government has placed new restrictive measures on the populace in order to contain a new outbreak. Many countries will have to continue to balance the health and economic needs of citizens.

The general success of China in containing the virus was due in part to extraordinary and authoritarian measures few democracies are able to impose on their populations. Despite this success, China has continued to have swift and aggressive localized lockdowns and curfews.

South Korea, with a population of 51 million, enjoyed notable and early success in containing

THE TRIBUNE

The govt begged and pleaded but sadly there are those who only think of themselves COVID-19. This was following a severe outbreak in Daegu, the fourth largest city in the country.

In March, the city reported 13,879 cases and 297 deaths. South Korea continues to battle “small but persistent clusters of infections with 63 new cases reported on Tuesday, July 21. But no country is out of the woods as the virus can easily rebound in any country.

Terrifying The general success of South Korea and Singapore in arresting the spread of the virus was due in large part to the terrifying experience the countries had during the 2002-2003 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak, which experts believe originated in a wet market in southern Guangdong Province in China.

The UK Guardian reported: “Many of the countries that have had the greatest success in containing the disease are ones that were affected by SARS in 2002-03. The memory of

that crisis may have led to better preparedness, in government and among the population, and to a greater willingness among people to comply with restrictions on movement and daily life to prevent the spread of infection.”

Because most countries in the world, including The Bahamas, did not experience SARS, many citizens did not take the outbreak as seriously at the outset.

The SARS outbreak began after a businessman became ill in Foshan, China. He presented with pneumonia-like symptoms.

The people who treated him also became sick. Over the course of nine months, from late 2002 to July 2003, the virus spread from China to 29 other countries, infecting just over 8,000 people and killing 774 people, mostly in Asia.

While HIV/AIDS took approximately 20 years to cover the globe, SARS was described as a “swift and terrifying pandemic”, its symptoms included coughing, fever, body aches, difficulty breathing and fatigue.

The virus could easily be

transmitted through superspreaders who could pass it on through the air, by sneezing or coughing.

The World Health Organization reported: “Other countries/ areas in which chains of human-to-human transmission occurred after early importation of cases were Toronto in Canada, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China, Chinese Taipei, Singapore and Hanoi in Vietnam.”

Because of fears about its economy and other factors, China did not notify the WHO about the SARS virus until February, 2003, several months after the discovery of the virus.

Downplayed China downplayed the number of SARS patients in the country. By some estimates the real number of patients in Beijing was 10 times higher than previously reported by Chinese officials.

Because of the experience of the SARS outbreak, including the dangerous secrecy of the Chinese Government,

many governments in Asia were alarmed at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Because of their fairly recent experience with SARS, Vietnam quickly closed its borders with China at the outset of the COVID-19 outbreak. Vietnam was unsure of the validity of the information coming out of China and whether officials there were accurately reporting the nature and scope of the disease.

For its part, South Korea quickly ramped up some of the most intrusive health surveillance and contact tracing of any democracy.

While there were complaints, most South Koreans complied because they appreciated the potential nature of the health threat given how virulent and deadly SARS proved over a decade ago.

Most South Koreans and Singaporeans also complied because they are more communitarian cultures, with many used to wearing face masks. Culture and sociology matter. Many of these countries are more disciplined, better organized and more disposed to following public health guidelines.

Pandemics, especially in democracies, require governments to both encourage citizens and to strictly enforce health measures.

It is highly disingenuous to argue that citizens will comply mostly through persuasion.

While many have complied with health guidelines, the slackness, indiscipline and indifference to the well-being of others have characterized the behaviour of many Bahamians who are responsible for the current resurgence of COVID-19, including those who unnecessarily and irresponsibly travelled to Florida for non-essential reasons, including to shop.

The Minnis Administration, like other governments, is trying to strike the right balance between protecting health and reopening our heavily tourism dependent economy.

As the Prime Minister has repeatedly noted: “At least 50 percent of our GDP is derived from tourism, which employs directly and indirectly up to 60 percent of our working population.”

In a democracy, policy measures demand a certain level of responsibility and compliance by citizens.

Authoritarian states can enforce measures of which citizens in a democracy will balk.

Democracy When a government relaxes measures in a democracy like The Bahamas, some will disagree with the decision, arguing for stronger measures. If a government puts in place certain restrictions, others

will whine and complain, especially in countries where whining and winging are favourite pastimes.

It is the task of democratic governance to do what is prudent in order to save and to protect life.

The Bahamas Government has begged, pleaded and encouraged Bahamians and residents to act responsibly. But there are those who will only respond to greater enforcement and restrictions.

As Florida rages with the virus, some Bahamians put their country at great risk by cavalierly travelling into one of the worst areas of the contagion and then returning home. By some estimates, the United States may have five to ten times more cases than reported.

In a Letter to the Editor, Athena Damianos, one of the better journalists of her time who can teach current journalists much about the craft, summed up why we are experiencing a resurgence of the virus: “It is the selfish and irresponsible behaviour of some people that has brought us back to square one in the fight against COVID-19. We were urged not to travel abroad unless it was essential. I guess going to Walmart in hotspot- Miami is essential.

“We were told to limit the size of groups on the beach to five to help prevent spread, but many people ignored the warning and partied, packed together like sardines, like it was the last day on earth.

“Others rented Airbnbs to host parties; everyone ‘mash up together’. People ‘mash up together’ at Fish Fry, masks on their chins instead of covering mouth and nose.

“We were doing so well under the policies set to flatten the curve, we stood proud as a model to some of the most developed countries in the world.

“Now, the incredibly selfish and short-sighted behaviour of some people means Freeport’s economic recovery has been set back again and the vendors at Fish Fry and Potter’s Cay here in Nassau have had their income stream cut.

“It means scores of law-abiding citizens and residents can’t even go to the beach in the heat of summer.

“For crying out loud, don’t these people watch the international news and see what’s happening elsewhere as a result of this type of behaviour? If we are unable to follow COVID19 protocols, ourselves.

How can we ask visitors to?

“Instead of chastising the government for this unfortunate turn of events, any impartial person would welcome the swift response and place the blame squarely on the shoulders of the thoughtless people who have returned us to this sad place.”

THE TRIBUNE

F

OR as long as anyone can remember, the Washington Post has featured a full, separate sports page. The local teams have always gotten coverage ranging from barely adequate (women’s soccer) to full (the pro football team formerly known as the Redskins). Pulitzer Prizes have been awarded to feature writers. In many respects, the newspaper’s sports section has occupied as influential a place in its sphere as has the editorial section.

But just not for the past three months. When amateur and professional sports in the US started shutting down along with much of the rest of the economy beginning in midMarch the Post, like many other papers, curtailed its sports coverage. There were, after all, few sports to cover. The sports section was consigned to the back of the Style section, behind human interest features, women’s fashion and book and movie (or video) reviews.

Today, as the defending MLB champions Nationals are set to open their 60-game season against the rebuilt New York Yankees, the Post unveiled its revived separate sports section. But the Nats’ game against New York will be played in a stadium without fans. It will be for television only.

The Washington experience is being replicated all over the country, where sports has for so long represented, at least for many men and growing numbers of women, a welcome distraction from the news or events of the day. Like the weather, sports had become something to talk about, a verbal and emotional lubricant for business and personal relationships. It wasn’t life or death.

Now, who knows if TV ratings will be healthy enough to sustain professional and major college sports programmes until science and/or social discipline reveal some way out of COVID-19 hell. Middle aged and some young

Thursday, July 23, 2020, PAGE 9

In a nation divided by Trump and drowning in COVID, we need something to talk about - even sport STATESIDE

with Charlie Harper

people will be forced to discuss boring, old fogey issues like their personal health.

You can’t really talk about politics any more unless you are certain how the other person feels about US President Trump or House Speaker Nancy Pelosi or a cast of hundreds of other public figures who are heroes to some and villains to others. It would be much safer to discuss sports, if there were just something to talk about.

Nothing is the same this year now as it was when the calendar flipped to 2020.

The US is mired in a major economic downturn but because the country is only 14 weeks from its quadrennial national election, the American congress is now wrangling bitterly over how to prop up the economy so people don’t lose their

homes and jobs, in addition to their self-respect, before a solution to the pandemic is found.

Look at these frontpage stories from major daily papers just this week: “Trump’s priorities guide GOP virus bill.” “In Oklahoma, jobless lines of 2020 look like the 1930s.” “Bad poll numbers push Trump back to daily virus briefings.”

“Federal agents readied for cities led by Democratic mayors.”

“They depended on their parents for everything.

Then the virus took them both.” And so on. You get the picture.

A national distraction is desperately needed. It probably won’t be sports.

But it can also no longer be politics, because politics has morphed from something often amusing in its craven

NEW York Yankees’ Clint Frazier during a training game at the weekend hypocrisy to a vicious, toxic struggle that poisons many essential elements of people’s daily lives.

Furthermore it can no longer be travel, because popular destinations like The Bahamas, Canada and Western and Central Europe aren’t interested in welcoming American tourist dollars if they come with the coronavirus attached to them.

Even domestic travel is

TIME SOMEONE PICKED UP BATON SOMETIMES it seems like events conspire to make a previously unthinkable result appear to be inevitable. The death last week of American civil rights icon John Lewis might help nudge Joe Biden to select a black woman as his running mate. Other black leaders, in and out of Congress, have also passed earlier this year, perhaps in some ways setting a subtle context for the outrage that followed the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis at the end of May. There is a growing sense that the civil rights torch is available to be passed from the many who have gone before to someone new.

Maybe that someone will be the next American vice president.

Lewis, who represented a strongly Democratic Georgia congressional district for 33 years, was known as much for his determined pacifism as for the fame he earned marching over 50 years ago with colleagues like Dr Martin Luther King Jr.

JOE Biden has pledged to choose a woman as his running mate Some relevant thoughts from Lewis: “The election of 2008 was a major

down payment on Dr King’s dream, but it did not fulfil it. We (still) question

whether government has any obligation to serve the poor, help feed the hungry or assist the sick. There will be opposition (to racial progress in the US), and it might become ugly.”

Lewis was speaking nine years ago. That his words ring so true today may lead Biden in his choice. is not surprising. Women, especially suburban women, are credited with leading the Democratic rout over GOP candidates two years ago. Twenty six US senators are currently women, and just over 100 seats in the House are held by women.

2020, we are reminded, is still the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage in the US. One black female candidate for a city council position near Dallas may have said it best. “Women are prepared to serve, they now have the background and experience,” she said.

“They need to be given the opportunity. There has to be courage on the part of leadership to not be afraid to make the right decision.”

WHAT DO WE DO ABOUT DOROTHY? REMAINING on the subject of race and women, let us now turn to Dorothy Parker, a white woman whose ashes have been buried for 32 years in the back yard of the Baltimore headquarters of the NAACP, America’s leading black civil rights organization. Say what?

Parker was no ordinary woman, white or otherwise. Known mostly as one of the great American sharptongued wits alongside such figures as Mark Twain and H L Mencken, she said the following, among many other memorable lines: “Men seldom make passes at girls who wear glasses.”

“You can’t teach an old dogma new tricks.”

“The cure for boredom is curiosity.

There is no cure for curiosity.”

“I like to talk to myself. I like a good speaker, and I appreciate an intelligent audience.”

“I like to have a martini. Two at the

DOROTHY Parker - no ordinary woman

very most. After three, I’m under the table. After four, I’m under my host.”

“You can lead a horticulture, but you can’t make her think.”

“The first thing I do in the morning is brush my teeth and sharpen my wit.”

Parker was not only witty. She was a passionate civil rights activist, writing and demonstrating in the 1950s and 1960s when it was unusual and often dangerous to do so.

Inspired by Dr King, Parker left her entire, substantial estate to him when she died in 1967. Twenty years later, in a belated gesture of gratitude, her ashes were duly buried in the NAACP’s Baltimore back yard.

Now that the venerable civil rights organisation is moving its headquarters to Washington DC, the question of what to do with Parker’s remains will serve as a reminder of her wit and passion.

scary, as stories proliferate about airliners where spacing is ignored and sanitation measures seem inadequate. And if you and your family hit the road for a summer vacation, how can you rely on the cleanliness and safety of a hotel room or restaurant?

In spite of it all, America still appears to be a hopeful country. There remains an abiding faith in the nation’s ingenuity and science and

ability to find a public health answer to COVID19. But public opinion polls reveal a clear recognition that the country is beset by economic, societal and infrastructure issues that need to be addressed by President Trump in a second term or President Biden in a first term. November’s election is likely to turn on which option voters trust as more likely to lead the US to satisfactory solutions.

PAGE 10, Thursday, July 23, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

Never alone in long wait to reclaim football glory LIVERPOOL lifts the English Premier League trophy at Anfield Stadium last night

By JOHN WILLIAMS Senior Lecturer in Sociology, University of Leicester Last night Liverpool Football Club was finally presented the winners trophy for this season’s English Premier League. Once the unrivalled club in English soccer, Liverpool’s fans had to wait for 30 years to regain the national honours which once they virtually owned. Here, Liverpool fan John Williams, tells his story of that long wait for glory.

WHAT were you doing 30 years ago? Were you even born? Let me mark your card here. Research

at CERN in Switzerland by British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee in 1989-90 would eventually result in the World Wide Web, linking hypertext documents into an information system accessible from any node on the network (thanks for that, Wikipedia). In other words, the internet was just being conceived.

There was no social media back then, little reality TV. Mobile phones – when you knew someone who had one – were like bricks. Elton John was top of the charts – can’t remember what with, but it was probably on a compact disc.

Try describing this cultural and information wasteland to anyone under

30 today. It sounds like an era of steam engines, sticky-backed plastic, string and cardboard. And it was the last time my team, Liverpool FC, were league champions in England.

When you grow up with your football team winning, 30 years is a lifetime.

So it was a bit bizarre, watching two clubs, Manchester City and Chelsea, neither of which I’d ever want to win anything, knowing that if Chelsea could stop City winning, Liverpool would secure the greatest prize in English football, for the first time in 30 years.

And when, 13 minutes from the end, with the scores level – still enough

for Liverpool to take the title – Chelsea scored a penalty to go 2-1 up against ten men, I knew it was finally heading to Anfield.

There was nobody in the stadium to burst into rapturous applause, but hearts were racing across Merseyside, and around the world among followers of Liverpool FC.

It’s been a long wait Back in the summer of 1990, I had just blagged a gig for The Times to write a piece about fans at the European Cup final in Vienna: AC Milan 1, Benfica 0. Everyone was perfectly behaved and I remember composing some stupid remark home about these wonderful people and how little street theft and disorder there was in places abroad such as Milan. Until, of course, I actually visited Milan.

Back then, this was about the only way that English fans could connect to elite continental football.

We were still banned as a country from European club football because of the Heysel Stadium disaster in 1985 where 39 people died and 600 were injured as some of my club’s fans disgraced themselves and the nation in Brussels – and plenty of people back home had had about enough of dismal stadia and the brutality of English fan culture.

The shame of Heysel, weirdly, seemed only to spur Liverpool FC to new heights on the pitch, confirm the club’s domestic power and its importance for local people. We even won the domestic double in 1986, almost did it again in 1988, and almost did it again in 1989. Famously, losing the title to Arsenal in 1989 in dramatic, last gasp, fashion came only weeks after the shock of the Hillsborough disaster. We were still in turmoil. I sat on the steps of the Kop that night as Arsenal celebrated, thinking that Liverpool winning the league title again wouldn’t have felt right with so many dead fans to grieve for. I wasn’t heartbroken at defeat.

One more league title did come, in 1990, but by then our charismatic managers

and the great Liverpool players of this era – Kenny Dalglish was still manager, but his glory days were behind him. And so many others – a stellar roll call – Souness, Hansen, Rush, even John Barnes, were gone, past their best or retired. Their replacements were often sub-standard. It was the end of a glorious road, 25 years of fantastic success.

Wilderness years Liverpool FC would now lose traction, fall behind their key rivals. This was mainly because the club was still run as a superior corner shop, reluctant to embrace change – club secretary Peter Robinson even opposed new computer software for the finance staff.

But it was also because the longer-term baggage of these awful disasters of the 1980s engulfed the club, its staff and its supporters. The old Anfield boot room aura of competitive coaching advantage would now no longer work in this new, more global, age of sports science, international player recruitment, and billionaire foreign owners.

Buying the best of British was no guarantee of success, as it once had been for Liverpool in the 1970s and 1980s.

The aftermath of Hillsborough also produced an agenda for nationwide stadium modernisation, a moment when the game itself in England was completely reconstructed and repackaged. This came with the birth of the brassy new, commodified FA Premier League in 1992, the rise of satellite TV as a major new funder for English football, and the globalisation of the elite levels of the English game, made possible by new technology and new marketing and communication techniques. Liverpool FC took time to reconnect, still stuck in their old ways.

It has taken 30 years for us to get back to the very top – the occasional wonderful European triumph and other domestic trophies notwithstanding (I have seen them all). We almost went under completely in

2010, rescued by our current owners, the Americans at FSG, only at the 11th hour in the High Court. In 2014, a cruel Steven Gerrard slip robbed us, at the last, of a certain title. There were tears on the Kop. A year later, and a hippylooking, bearded smoker breezed in from Germany, apparently drunk on KoolAid, to tell us that Bill Shankly himself had been resurrected with a dentist’s smile, and that he was going to build a new fortress at Anfield. This new coach was soon even scolding his own supporters in the Liverpool Main Stand for leaving matches too early.

Who was this guy?

Klopp rules the Kop Jurgen Klopp has somehow whizzed Liverpool football club back to the 1960s, when the city was iridescent and its ambitious young Scottish manager and his players believed anything was achievable – and then went on to show how. The “heavy metal” global team Klopp has built in five years, with its Dutchmen, Brazilians, Africans and Brits, is the best I have seen at Anfield – and I have pretty much seen them all.

It may even be the best ever to play at the highest level in the English game. It is close to perfect.

Which is why it is both agony and ecstasy now, watching Liverpool, my club, claim this first title for 30 long years, not from my Block 207, Row 15, Seat 60 place on the Kop, but from the unwelcome comfort of my living room. Nobody is even sitting in the stadium where I should be.

At least the season has not been voided as some scared accountants and club chief executives initially wanted.

And not even Pep Guardiola’s brilliant Manchester City could stop us.

But COVID-19 has meant our own, longawaited, 19th league title will have to be consumed and celebrated home and alone. It is hard to take – I do want to get out and scream – but after 30 years, and in the current circumstances, I can live with that. theconversation.com

LIVERPOOL manager Jurgen Klopp celebrates getting his medal last night

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, July 23, 2020, PAGE 11

BILL TO REMOVE STATUE OF MAN WHO SAID AFRICAN AMERICANS COULDN’T BE CITIZENS WASHINGTON Associated Press

the commanding general of the Confederate Army, and Jefferson Davis, the Confederate president.

Three statues honouring white supremacists — including former US Vice President John C Calhoun of South Carolina — would be immediately removed.

“Defenders of sedition, slavery, segregation and white supremacy have no place in this temple of liberty,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said.

The House approved the bill 305-113, sending it to the Republican-controlled Senate, where prospects are uncertain. Hoyer co-sponsored the bill and noted

THE House has approved a bill to remove statues of Robert E Lee and other Confederate leaders from the US Capitol, as well as a bust of Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, the author of the 1857 Dred Scott decision that declared African Americans couldn’t be citizens.

Besides Taney, the bill would direct the Architect of the Capitol to identify and eventually remove from Statuary Hall at least 10 statues honoring Confederate officials, including Lee,

with irony that Taney was born in the southern Maryland district Hoyer represents. Hoyer said it was appropriate that the bill would replace Taney’s bust with another Maryland native, the late Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, the high court’s first black justice.

Even if legislation passes both chambers, it would need the president’s signature, and President Donald Trump has opposed the removal of historic statues elsewhere. Trump has strongly condemned those who toppled statues during protests over racial injustice and police

CHIEF Justice Roger B Taney

brutality following the May death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

The 2-foot-high marble bust of Taney is outside a room in the Capitol where the Supreme Court met for half a century, from 1810 to 1860. It was in that room that Taney, the nation’s fifth chief justice, announced the Dred Scott decision, sometimes called the worst decision in the court’s history.

“What Dred Scott said was, black lives did not matter,’’ Hoyer said. “So when we assert that yes they do matter, it is out of conviction ... that in America, the land of the free includes all of us.’’

US labs buckling as world cases top 15m WASHINGTON Associated Press LABORATORIES across the US are buckling under a surge of coronavirus tests, creating long processing delays that experts say are actually undercutting the pandemic response.

With the US tally of infections at 3.9 million yesterday and new cases surging, the bottlenecks are creating problems for workers kept off the job while awaiting results, nursing homes struggling to keep the virus out and for the labs themselves, dealing with a crushing workload.

Some labs are taking weeks to return COVID-19 results, exacerbating fears that asymptomatic people could be spreading the virus if they don’t isolate while they wait.

“There’s been this obsession with, ‘How many tests are we doing per day?’” said Dr Tom Frieden, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“The question is how many tests are being done with results coming back within a day, where the individual tested is promptly isolated and their contacts are promptly warned.”

Frieden and other public health experts have called on states to publicly report testing turnaround times, calling it an essential metric to measure progress against the virus.

The testing lags in the US come as the number of people confirmed to be infected globally passed a staggering 15 million yesterday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The US leads the world in cases as well as deaths, which stand at more than 142,000 nationwide. New York, once by far the US leader in infections, has been surpassed by California, though that is partly due to robust testing in a state with more than twice the population of New York.

In Florida, as the state confirmed 9,785 new cases yesterday and the death toll rose to nearly 5,500, nursing homes have been under an

A HEALTHCARE worker at a Covid-19 testing centre in California order to test all employees every two weeks. But long delays for results have some questioning the point.

US officials have recently called for ramping up screening to include seemingly healthy Americans who may be unknowingly spreading the disease in their communities.

But Quest Diagnostics, one of the nation’s largest testing chains, said it can’t keep up with demand and most patients will face waits of a week or longer for results.

As testing has expanded, so have mask orders and other measures aimed at keeping infections down. Ohio, Indiana, Minnesota and Oregon became the latest to announce statewide mandatory mask orders on Wednesday.

The US is testing over 700,000 people per day, up from less than

100,000 in March. Trump administration officials point out that roughly half of U.S. tests are performed on rapid systems that give results in about 15 minutes or in hospitals, which typically process tests in about 24 hours. But last month, that still left some 9 million tests going through laboratories, which have been plagued by limited chemicals, machines and kits to develop COVID-19 tests.

There is no scientific consensus on the rate of testing needed to control the virus in the US, but experts have recommended for months that the U.S. test at least 1 million to 3 million people daily.

Health experts assembled by the Rockefeller Foundation said that the US should scale up to testing 30 million Americans per

HEARD ACCUSES DEPP OF THROWING BOTTLES AT HER LIKE ‘GRENADES’ LONDON Associated Press

AMBER Heard yesterday alleged in a British court that ex-husband Johnny Depp threw “30 or so bottles” at her as if they were “grenades or bombs” during a drunken and frenzied assault in Australia in March 2015 that also saw him accidentally sever part of his finger.

Taking the witness box for a third day at the High Court in London during Depp’s libel case against a British tabloid, the actress refuted his allegation that it was she who lost her temper and that she had injured him.

Heard has described her stay in Australia with Depp as akin to a “three-day hostage situation,” during which Depp was “completely out of his mind and out of control” following a binge on drugs and alcohol. Heard has said that she feared for her life while at the rented property on Australia’s Gold Coast while Depp was filming the latest Pirates of the Caribbean.

The incident is central to The Sun’s labeling of Depp in an April 2018 article as a “wife-beater.” The Sun’s defence relies on 14 allegations made by Heard of

AMBER Heard yesterday violence by Depp between 2013 and 2016, in settings as varied as the rented house in Australia, his private island in The Bahamas and a private jet.

Depp, 57, denies abusing Heard and claims she was the aggressor during their tempestuous relationship. He was present once again to hear Heard’s testimony. He is suing The Sun’s publisher and its executive editor, Dan Wootton, over the article.

Depp’s lawyer, Eleanor Laws, said Heard had worked herself “into a rage” during her stay in Australia and that she had a habit of just “losing it.”

Heard, 34, said she got “angry at times but not into a rage that would cause me to throw anything at him.”

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week by the fall, when school reopenings and flu season are expected to further exacerbate the virus’ spread. The group acknowledged that will not be possible with the current laboratory-based testing system.

The National Institutes of Health has set up a “shark tank” competition to quickly identify promising rapid tests and has received more than 600 applications. The goal is to have new testing options in mass production by the fall.

Until then, the backbone of US testing remains at several hundred labs with high-capacity machines capable of processing thousands of samples per day. Many say they could be processing far more tests if not for global shortages of testing chemicals, pipettes and other materials.

AMERICANS FAIL TO BACK FULL SCHOOL REOPENING BOSTON Associated Press THE start of school will look very different this year because of the coronavirus — and that’s OK with the vast majority of Americans.

Only about one in 10 Americans think daycare centres, preschools or K-12 schools should open this fall without restrictions, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Centre for Public Affairs. Most think mask requirements and other safety measures are necessary to restart in-person instruction, and roughly three in 10 say that teaching kids in classrooms shouldn’t happen at all.

The findings are a sharp contrast to the picture that President Donald Trump paints as he pressures schools to reopen.

Trump said yesterday that he would be “comfortable” with his son Barron and grandchildren attending school in person this fall.

“I would like to see the schools open,” he told reporters.

Few schools, however, plan to return to business as usual. Many of the nation’s largest school districts have announced that they’ll be entirely virtual in the fall or use a hybrid model that has children in classrooms only a couple of days a week.

The poll finds only 8% of Americans say K-12 schools should open for normal in-person instruction. Just 14% think they can reopen with minor adjustments, while 46% think major adjustments are needed. Another 31% think instruction should not be in person this fall. It’s little different among the parents of school-age children. The poll also shows Americans feel the same about colleges and universities reopening this fall.

SPORTS SECTION E

SEE PAGE 16

THURSDAY, JULY 23, 2020

‘Buddy’ scores team high 19 off the bench in loss SACRAMENTO Kings’ Buddy Hield (file photo), showed little signs of rust yesterday in his return to action as the Sacramento Kings made their debut in the NBA 2019-20 season restart. Hield finished with a team high 19 points off the bench in the Kings’ 104-98 loss to the Miami Heat at the Disney Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, Florida.

(AP)

By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

C

havano “Buddy” Hield showed little signs of rust in his return to action as the Sacramento Kings made their debut in the NBA 2019-20 season restart.

Hield finished with a team high 19 points off the bench in the Kings’ 104-98 loss to the Miami Heat at the HP Field House at the Disney Wide World of Sports

Complex in Orlando, Florida.

He shot 8-16 from the field, 3-10 from three-point range and also added five rebounds in just over 24 minutes.

The Kings return to the court for their second of three scrimmages July 25 against the Milwaukee Bucks. The third scrimmage will be July 27 against the Los Angeles Clippers.

They begin the official seeding games when the season officially resumes on July 31, when they will face the San Antonio Spurs.

The remainder of the Kings’ schedule includes matchups against the Orlando Magic (August 2), Dallas Mavericks (August 4), New Orleans Pelicans (August 6), Brooklyn Nets (August 7), Houston Rockets (August 9), Pelicans (August 11), and Los Angeles Lakers (August 13).

Hield cleared all COVID-19 protocols and joined the remainder of the Kings in Orlando last week. He was one four Kings players to test positive in June

as league-wide testing began in preparation for its return to the court.

He noted that he experienced just mild symptoms of the disease after he tested positive, but was more concerned with the well-being of his close friends and family members.

“I wasn’t scared or nothing like that,” Hield said to reporters following his first practice session in Orlando. “I tested positive and I was just concerned for the people around me like

my daughter and my girl and my family. I didn’t want nobody getting infected by it, Hield said.

“I didn’t want my carelessness causing someone to lose their life or something like that. So, I was warning people I was around.”

Through 64 games this season, Hield is averaging 19.8 points per game and is shooting 40 per cent from beyond the arc, making 3.8 three-point field goals in about 10 attempts per game. Hield also added 4.8 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game.

CHISHOLM, FOX PLAY IN MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL SUMMER CAMP

By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net JAZZ Chisholm and Lucius Fox both saw playing time this week with their respective clubs during Major League Baseball Summer Camp.

Chisholm cleared COVID-19 protocols and joined the Miami Marlins’ main squad in Tuesday night’s 10-9 loss to the Atlanta Braves.

In a reserve role, the Marlins’ No.3 prospect entered the game at shortstop in the eighth inning and had one plate appearance - a flyout to left in the top of the ninth.

Chisholm missed the opening week of summer camp and was in quarantine after a series of positive and negative COVID-19 tests despite not experiencing any symptoms. “Honestly, I was not worried at all. I didn’t have one symptom at all, so, to me, I didn’t even think I had the virus at all,” he told the Miami Heral.

“It’s mentally tough to go through, but you just have to fight through every day and keep working every day, even though you’re not allowed to leave your room or wherever you’re at. It’s just pushing through it and staying mentally stable through everything you do. ... It was a tough time for me, but I got through it and I’m here now, so I’m excited.”

Following the pair of games in Atlanta, Chisholm will return to the Marlins’ alternate training site at the team’s Player Development Complex in Jupiter, Florida.

The Marlins open the regular season tonight against the Philadelphia Phillies.

Fox participated in the Rays’ pair of intrasquad scrimmages ahead of tonight’s regular season opener against the Toronto Blue Jays.

As members of their teams’ respective 40-man rosters, Chisholm and Fox were named to each team’s player pool of up to 60

LUCIUS Fox and Jazz Chisholm in action (right). players that can be used throughout the season.

The 60 players will be invited to training camp and active rosters will include 30 players.

After two weeks the roster will be reduced to 28 and after a period of two weeks, a final cut of 26 players.

The 2020 MLB season will feature a shortened 60-game season played over 66 days. Players reported to training camp on July 1 and opening day will be hosted on July 24.

The regular season is expected to conclude by late September and the playoffs are scheduled to begin in October.

In addition to the shortened season, the MLB will feature several rule changes most notably, the use of the designated hitter in both leagues and beginning extra innings with a runner on second base.

Chisholm, the 22-yearold shortstop, was set to make his 2020 debut in AAA baseball with the Wichita Wind Surge of the

Pacific Coast League and the AAA affiliate of the Marlins.

He made nine spring training appearances and hit .308 with three RBI, one home run, scored four runs, with a 1.115 OPS and two stolen bases.

Last season, Chisholm was named the top defensive shortstop in the Double-A Southwest League and his advancement to DoubleA baseball produced a Southern League All-Star selection after he led all

the league’s shortstops with 21 home runs and 173 total bases.

Fox, 23, has been listed at shortstop for the duration of his career but saw time at centrefield, second and third during Spring Training. He is listed as an infielder/outfielder for the 2020 player pool.

He was also set to make his 2020 debut in AAA baseball with the Durham Bulls of the International League and the AAA affiliate of the Rays.

He spent 15 games last season with the Bulls, but spent the bulk of the year with the Montgomery Biscuits in the Double A Southern League. He went on to lead the Southern League with 39 stolen bases.

Fox is currently listed as the No.24 prospect in the Rays organisation.

He received leaguewide recognition and was awarded “Best Hustler” for his base-running ability when the league announced its Postseason Awards.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, July 23, 2020, PAGE 17

Pandemic Basketball begins, with some comforts of home

By TIM REYNOLDS AP Basketball Writer LAKE BUENA VISTA, Florida (AP) — Michael Baiamonte was not at Walt Disney World yesterday. The public address announcer for the Miami Heat wasn’t in the building for the team’s season-restart scrimmage debut.

His voice was.

The sound of him bellowing one of his signature phrases — “stand up and make some noise” — bounced through the arena last night during a thirdquarter stoppage in play, a bit of a peculiar thing because there were no fans there to actually coax into rising from their chairs.

Welcome to Pandemic Basketball.

The NBA rolled out what game operations in a bubble will look like, with the first four of 33 scrimmages being played. The scrimmages — exhibitions, some call them — will continue through July 28, two days before the restart of the regular season in the form of seeding games that will determine who has what seed for the playoffs.

“The games are the games,” Los Angeles Clippers coach Doc Rivers said.

“Once you get in between the lines, you can make a case, that’s probably as comfortable as the players will ever be or as normal as everything will ever be. Because once they get between the lines, it’s a basketball game.”

Rivers and the Clippers were the NBA’s first winners of a game played during a pandemic, after downing Orlando 99-90 in an arena that held about 200 people — players, team staffs and NBA employees included.

Denver beat Washington 89-82, New Orleans eased past Brooklyn 99-68 and in the finale Miami topped Sacramento 104-98.

“I told Doc, I thought it was much more comfortable than I thought it would be,” Magic coach Steve Clifford said.

“I think that the teams that can adapt to playing in an unique, kind of different environment without all the fans, whoever can get the right mindset and concentrate on just playing will have a big advantage.”

There were some new twists.

Ballboys were setting up chairs for teams during timeouts because ones in the bench area must not be moved, and every player had an orange Gatorade cart just for him marked at his assigned seat.

And while some players participated in handshakes, some people on the court declined — when Magic guard Michael Carter-Williams offered a fist-bump greeting to referee Jacyn Goble, no reciprocal offer came.

“For me, it’s just basketball,” New Orleans guard E’Twaun Moore said. “It’s kind of easy to play that.

It’s like playing your whole life, playing outside, playing in gyms with nobody there, open gym. So it was just fun to go out there and just hoop and have fun.”

Part of the setup here calls for the designated home teams, like the Heat were yesterday, to get comforts of home.

So they wore white uniforms, had their Heat logo on the video boards, listened to “Seven Nation Army” coming through the speakers as they would at home, and even got to hear Baiamonte.

Westbrook said. “Wearing a mask can be between life or death, honestly. ... People are dying from this virus each and every day, and it’s something that we all need to take very, very seriously.”

Westbrook said the worst of his symptoms was nasal congestion.

PELICANS forward Zion Williamson shoots free throws prior to a game against the Dallas Mavericks on March 4.

(AP Photo/Michael Ainsworth) At the end, “The Heat Is On” — another after-win treat at home — played as they walked off, too. “The production felt like a big event,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “I thought it was terrific. I really did.”

PLAY ANALYSIS Shooting on Day 1 wasn’t as rusty as some might expect.

The four games yesterday saw teams shoot 43 per cent from the field, 32 per cent from 3-point range and 81 per cent from the foul line.

For the regular season, the NBA was collectively at 46 per cent from the floor, 36 per cent from 3-point range and 77 per cent from the line.

ZION UPDATE Zion Williamson could still make re-opening night of the NBA season.

The Pelicans said yesterday that Williamson, who

REGISTER NOW: FIBA Under-17 Skills Challenge Tryouts

By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net JUST hours remain for student athletes to register for their opportunity to earn a roster spot for Team Bahamas at the upcoming FIBA Under-17 Skills Challenge.

Registration is currently open at the Bahamas Basketball Federation’s website at bbfbasketball.com for players interested in securing a spot in the open tryouts, but closes tonight at 11:59pm.

Tryouts are open to all boys and girls ages 15-17 born after January 1, 2013.

Persons will be notified via e-mail of their prospective tryouts dates and times on July 24.

Interested persons can also contact the BBF by email at U17.bbf@outlook. com or call 422-2353.

The FIBA U-17 Skills Challenge, hosted August 10-16, is a new initiative by basketball’s international governing body.

It gives The Bahamas another opportunity to compete at the international level against top basketball prospects throughout the world amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Bahamas has entered both boys and girls teams for qualification.

FIBA established the competition as a means for its member federations to bring their youth teams together for a training camp and allow players to enjoy a competitive activity without travelling internationally.

The qualification round will be hosted at the respective federation’s chosen location and the final will take place August 17. The Bahamas is vying for one of five spots open in the final.

Players will try out in specific trial blocks based on their last names. The first tryout phase will commence

July 25 and will run through the 27th. Phase two will be July 29-30 and the final team selection will be July 31. The roster will be submitted August 3.

Marvin Henfield serves as the head coach for both teams.

Throughout the process, the tryout sessions and team practices will adhere to FIBA, BBF and Government of The Bahamas COVID-19 guidelines.

“We have created COVID safe guidelines that we have implemented to be in compliance with all necessary rules and regulations. We have determined that the maximum number of athletes that will be in the gym at any point for a tryout will be 20. Each of the athletes will go through a check-in process at the door. Each will be asked a series of five questions - the standard COVID screening questions - and we have a checklist we have prepared and athletes will have to answer no to each question.

They will also have their temperature taken. If an athlete answers yes to any question they will not be allowed to participate. They will go through this process with every scheduled activity, which includes the tryouts as well as when we begin practices,” Henfield said. “They will not be required to wear masks in the gym but must adhere to social distancing guidelines.

They must stand six feet apart when inactive, and 12 feet apart when active. At no time will more than four athletes be using the court at one time. Coaches and support staff will have their temp taken, will have masks at all times during on schedule training.”

Mechanisms are in place to give Family Island participants an opportunity to qualify. “With this COVID experience, we still want to access the best talent we

have and we are in this to win this. We have also comprised a format that we will submit to the federation for virtual tryouts for Family Island athletes,” Henfield said.

“In order for us to be entirely inclusive, it requires us to be far more exhaustive than the timeframe that we have allows.

It is our hope to access all the best athletes that we can in the timeframe that we have allotted to us.”

Players will display a set of skills through a course of challenges dispersed across the full length of the court.

The player starts at baseline, dribbles 15 feet and will have three attempts to make a pass through a passing cone. If they are successful, they will receive one point. They will then make a layup on the same side of the court, dribble around five cones to the opposite end of the floor and take a jumpshot from behind the free throw line.

If they are successful on the first attempt they will be awarded two points. If they miss they will have to get their rebound, make a layup and then go full length of the court to the three-point line to attempt a three pointer. If they make it on the first attempt they will be awarded three points. If they miss they have to get the rebound and pass it to the next team member in line and the next four will continue the process.

The maximum number of points scored by an individual on a given round is six points. A team can score a maximum of 30 points.

The total score will be subtracted from total time in seconds and the team with the lowest time wins.

FIBA created the Skills Challenge after the U-17 Basketball World Cup and 2020 Youth World Competitions were postponed due to the coronavirus.

left the NBA bubble last week for a family matter, is being tested daily for the coronavirus and continues showing negative results.

If that continues, Williamson may have to quarantine for only four days when he returns to the team.

And if that return comes in the next few days, that means he could still have a shot of playing when New Orleans faces Utah on July 30 in the first of the 88 seeding games at Disney.

“While there is no current timetable for his return to campus, he fully intends to rejoin the team,” the Pelicans said in a statement. “Per NBA protocol, his quarantine period will be determined upon his return.”

The minimum quarantine Williamson would have to serve for leaving, even though he was officially excused, is the four-day option. The former Duke

star has played in 19 games this season, averaging 23.6 points and 6.8 rebounds.

He also missed the actual opening night of the season, when New Orleans played the first game of this 201920 campaign in Toronto against the reigning NBA champion Raptors.

WESTBROOK PRACTICES Houston guard Russell Westbrook, whose arrival in Florida was delayed after he tested positive for the coronavirus, arrived on Monday and got on the practice floor with his team for the first time yesterday.

It’s unclear if he will play in Houston’s first scrimmage at Disney on Friday. But he had a message to fans about how seriously they should take the coronavirus.

“I’m not a doctor nor a specialist, but I do know that it’s definitely something to take very seriously,”

TALL ORDER The short-handed Denver Nuggets went with a tall starting lineup in their exhibition opener against Washington.

Really, really tall.

The breakdown: 7-foot Nikola Jokic at point guard, 6-8 Jerami Grant at shooting guard, 7-2 Bol Bol at strong forward, 6-7 Paul Millsap at power forward and 6-11 Mason Plumlee in the middle.

“Might have been the biggest lineup in NBA history,” coach Michael Malone said.

Malone didn’t have much of a choice. He held out Will Barton III and Jamal Murray for precautionary reasons. He didn’t have Torrey Craig or Gary Harris, who just recently arrived into the bubble. But reinforcements will soon arrive with Michael Porter Jr on his way to Florida.

“Give our guys a lot of credit,” Malone said. “We had a lot of guys step in and play positions that aren’t their natural, comfortable positions.”

The rookie Bol had 16 points and 10 rebounds in 32 minutes. He didn’t play in a regular-season game and missed most of the year with a left foot injury.

“I’m very impressed,” said Troy Daniels, who was one of the few actual guards the Nuggets had available and led the team with 22 points. “He has a lot of potential.”

PAGE 18, Thursday, July 23, 2020

MLB RETURNS BALL KIDS TO LINES AFTER FEEDBACK FROM CLUBS

By JAY COHEN AP Sports Writer CHICAGO (AP) — It looks as if Christian Yelich is going to get some help.

Same for Aaron Judge and the rest of baseball’s corner outfielders.

Major League Baseball has adjusted its policy for bat-and-ball kids this summer, clearing the way for ball boys and girls to return to the foul lines during games. It recently informed clubs of the change, along with a set of detailed guidelines covering what they are allowed to do at the ballpark.

Baseball had planned to play without bat-and-ball kids this summer because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Depending on how teams decided to handle the situation, that might have led to a little more physical activity for corner outfielders running over to get a foul ball off the field.

Not so much anymore.

Take it easy, Mookie Betts.

You, too, Juan Soto.

“There’s some ballparks where there’s a lot of foul territory, so I think it has a bigger impact in some places than others,” Milwaukee Brewers slugger Ryan Braun said yesterday.

“The biggest thing I take away from it is just I think for all of us, we’re grateful when MLB makes adjustments when there are things that we give them feedback on.”

While ball boys and girls are returning to the foul lines, baseball is staying with its plans to keep them out of the dugout area — covered in Section 5.2 in baseball’s operations manual for the 2020 season.

The last paragraph of Section 5.2 reads: “The duties normally handled by bat boys/girls and ball boys/ girls will be performed by existing Club staff and not by any minor person. If no staff is available to perform those roles, the functions will not be available for the game; provided, however, that Clubs must make staff available to provide umpires with new balls and to retrieve equipment discarded by a batter who reaches base.”

The ball boys and girls on the foul lines will wear masks and gloves. They are required to stay at least 20 feet away from players, coaches, umpires and staff members. They aren’t allowed to play catch with any on-field personnel.

The ball boys and girls are expected to place anything they touch into a club-supplied bucket or bag, which will be disinfected by a clubhouse worker after the game.

As baseball started ramping up for opening day this week, everything was being worked out.

THE TRIBUNE

NATIONALS READY TO TAKE THE FIELD IN DEFENCE OF TITLE

By NOAH TRISTER AP Baseball Writer THE Washington Nationals are ready to take the field as defending World Series champions.

The fans won’t be there, but the ballpark will reflect the team’s new status.

The Nationals are planning to raise a new 2019 World Series champions flag before tonight’s opener against the New York Yankees. Other festivities include a ceremonial first pitch thrown by Dr Anthony Fauci and a previously recorded Presidents Race to be shown during the fourth inning.

“We definitely feel a connection with the fans so we’re really going to miss them and we’ll be thinking about them. We’ll be pumping in crowd noise to try to make up the difference,” reliever Sean Doolittle said.

“I think opening day, like I said, we’ve got that patch on our uniform sleeve that says world champs. Going out there to start to defend our championship is something we’ve been looking forward to since the end of October,” he said.

The Nationals also say a Black Lives Matter stencil will appear on the pitcher’s mound during games on opening weekend.

The Yankees plan to wear a uniform patch this season to honour Hank Steinbrenner, the team’s coowner who died in April. ___ Miami Marlins manager Don Mattingly says adjustments to MLB pandemic protocols are a work in progress, as Tuesday’s exhibition game at Atlanta showed.

“Our dugout was a mess,” Mattingly said Wednesday. “They

weren’t set up to have guys in the stands. It was raining. There were no tents. So we had all these guys, and nowhere to go. Then we have a zillion guys in the dugout, so there’s no way we were social distancing. Those are the things we’ve got to work through.”

Another problem Mattingly said he needs to solve: When he wears a mask, his glasses keep fogging. ___ Kansas City’s starting rotation is hard to figure out, but the Royals have rookie Brady Singer slated to make his major league debut Saturday at Cleveland.

Singer was a first-round draft pick by the Royals in 2018. He went 12-5 with a 2.85 ERA in the minors last year, splitting time between Class A and Double-A. “Brady has done everything to show us he’s ready for whatever we give him,” Royals manager Mike

Matheny said. “We feel good that Brady gives us a chacne to win.” ___ The Texas Rangers used two designated hitters and a 10-man batting order for their final exhibition game against the Colorado Rockies.

Willie Calhoun was one of the DHs, and he was No. 2 in the batting order nine days after coming out of an intrasquad game because of a hip strain. In another stretch of the rules for the final tuneup for the regular season, Calhoun would be replaced by a courtesy runner if he reached base but allowed to remain in the lineup to bat again.

Ronald Guzman was batting ninth as the second DH. Manager Chris Woodward said the umpires and the Rockies were OK with the plan, though Colorado manager Bud Black joked that he was going to use 11 batters.

AN OPENING week logo is displayed at Citi Field during the New York Mets baseball practice yesterday in New York. The Mets open the season in Friday against the Atlanta Braves.

(AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

Opening day amid virus: Masks, empty parks, and social justice

By BEN WALKER AP Baseball Writer OPENING day, at last.

A baseball season that was on the brink before it ever began because of the virus outbreak is set to start tonight when excitable Max Scherzer and the World Series champion Washington Nationals host prized ace Gerrit Cole and the New York Yankees.

When it does get underway — the DC forecast calls for thunderstorms, the latest rocky inning in this what-can-go-wrong game — it’ll mark the most bizarre year in the history of Major League Baseball.

A 60-game season, stars opting out. Ballparks without fans, players wearing masks. Piped-in sound effects, cardboard cutouts for spectators. Spray-painted ads on the mound, pitchers with personal rosin bags. And a rack of strange rules. DHs in the National League, well, OK. An automatic runner on second to start the 10th inning?

C’mon, now. “Gosh, it’s going to be fun,” Cole said. “It’s going to have fake crowd noise, and going to be 2020 coronavirus baseball.”

Plus, a poignant reminder of the world we live in. A Black Lives Matter stencil can be put on mounds throughout the majors during the opening weekend.

And still there’s a team that doesn’t know where it’s going to play — barred from Toronto because of health concerns, Vladimir Guerrero Jr and the Blue

Jays had hoped to roost in Pittsburgh or Baltimore or Buffalo or somewhere else. “This is 2020 baseball,” Scherzer said.

To many fans, that will do. No other choice, really. Four months after the games were supposed to start, strange ball is better than no ball, right? We’ll see.

Opening day brings a tasty doubleheader: a marquee pitching matchup in Washington, followed by the nightcap at Dodger Stadium when star outfielder Mookie Betts, fresh off a $365 million, 12-year contract, and his new Los Angeles teammates take on the San Francisco Giants.

One player Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw won’t face: six-time All-Star, three-time champion and former MVP Buster Posey. The Giants catcher and his wife have adopted twin identical girls who were prematurely born, and he’s among about a dozen players who have chosen to sit out this year.

“From a baseball standpoint, it was a tough decision for me,” Posey said. “From a family standpoint, making a decision to protect children, our children, it was relatively easy.”

Dodgers pitcher David Price, Washington infielder Ryan Zimmerman and Atlanta outfielder Nick Markakis also are sitting out.

Other players won’t be ready by the weekend — yesterday, the Royals announced Hunter Dozier (26 home runs, 10 triples) had tested positive for the virus and was being put on the injured list.

For those who are healthy, it’s time to play. For how long, with the virus looming, we’ll find out soon enough. Something that will be firmed up by the first pitch: how many teams will make the playoffs.

A decision is due by then after renewed talks about expanding the postseason field. Tossing out the first ball at Nationals Park to begin a schedule clobbered by COVID19 will be Dr Anthony Fauci, the country’s top infectious disease expert. “I used to play baseball as a young boy,” the 79-year-old Fauci told CNN. “I hope I don’t bounce it too much.”

Don’t worry, Doc. Even before the first pitch, this season already has handled plenty of bad hops.

SOCIAL JUSTICE MLB players traditionally haven’t been as outspoken as those in the NFL and NBA on social issues. Until this year, former Oakland catcher Bruce Maxwell was the only baseball player to take a knee before the national anthem — he did that in 2017 and felt it cost him a future spot in the majors.

New Giants manager Gabe Kapler and several of his players knelt during the national anthem before an exhibition game this week. A group of Reds did the same in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. “I wanted them to know that I wasn’t pleased with the way our country has handled police brutality and I told them I wanted to amplify their voices and

I wanted to amplify the voice of the black community and marginalised communities as well,” said Kapler, among 10 managers starting new jobs. Said Yankees star Aaron Judge: “That’s the beauty of America, is freedom of speech and freedom to express yourself.”

“We got a special platform being athletes and being able to speak our mind and speak what’s going on in this world. Some people express it online. Some people express it with words. Some people kneel,” he said.

MLB players can put a patch with “Black Lives Matter” or “United For Change” on a jersey sleeve during opening day.

MASKED MEN Didi Gregorius and Clint Frazier homered in exhibition games while wearing masks - those aren’t mandated on the field, but many other rules and guidelines are in place.

Social distancing in the dugout.

Skip tossing the ball around the infield after strikeouts. Keep the Phillie Phanatic and mascots off the field. No high-fives, either. Not a problem, Phillies slugger Bryce Harper said. “I think the air highfive is going to come back and be the coolest thing in baseball this year and be the coolest thing in sports,” he said. Still, a lot of protocols to keep in mind for players who’ve been doing things the same way since their were kids. “Is it going to be perfect the very first day?” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “Probably not.”

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, July 23, 2020, PAGE 19

LIVERPOOL TOP CHELSEA 5-3 BEFORE COLLECTING PL TROPHY

By ROB HARRIS AP Global Soccer Writer LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — Fireworks on and off the field at Anfield.

As the fans shut out of the stadium lit the sky with pyrotechnics, Liverpool and Chelsea provided their own explosive moments in an eight-goal thriller.

A 5-3 victory before receiving the Premier League trophy was an entertaining way for Liverpool to sign off from Anfield for the season yesterday with eight different scorers.

Defeat for Chelsea left Frank Lampard’s side still needing a point from Sunday’s final match of the season against Wolverhampton to seal a Champions League place.

Liverpool ensured the end of its 30-year title drought long ago. Only the three-month delay to the season because of the coronavirus pandemic delayed the coronation.

Just like four weeks ago, when Chelsea’s victory over Manchester City clinched the trophy for Liverpool, fans couldn’t resist gathering outside Anfield. There

was no chance of them entering the stadium due to pandemic restrictions.

What a show they missed.

Naby Keïta’s thunderbolt of a shot and Trent Alexander-Arnold’s stunning dipping free kick set Liverpool on its way to an 18th home league win out of 19 games. Chelsea’s slack defending allowed Gini Wijnaldum to grab a third from a corner before halftime.

Olivier Giroud was able to pull one back before halftime after goalkeeper Alisson parried Willian’s shot into the striker’s path.

Just when it looked like Roberto Firmino would complete the season without scoring in the league at Anfield, he finally did that in the 55th. It was an exquisite cross pinged in

by Alexander-Arnold that Firmino headed into the Chelsea goal in front of the Kop where the podium was set up for the trophy presentation.

The arrival of Christian Pulisic had injected a new energy in the Chelsea side in the second half.

And the American cut in from the left before setting up the unmarked Tammy

MANCHESTER UNITED BACK IN CHAMPIONS LEAGUE SPOTS, WEST HAM STAYS UP MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Manchester United nudged into the Champions League places for the first time since September after Mason Greenwood sealed a 1-1 draw against West Ham in the penultimate match of the Premier League season yesterday.

West Ham moved four points clear of the relegation zone to secure its Premier League survival.

After seeing a 19-match unbeaten run end in Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final loss to Chelsea, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s United fell behind in first-half stoppage

time at Old Trafford. Paul Pogba’s needless handball allowed Michail Antonio to give West Ham a surprise lead from the spot.

But United hit back six minutes into the second half through the 18-yearold Greenwood’s low strike.

The forward moved level with George Best, Brian Kidd and Wayne Rooney as United’s top-scoring teenager in a single season with his 17th goal.

United only needs to avoid defeat to fifth-placed Leicester in its last game of the season to secure a return to the Champions League.

DODGERS’ Mookie Betts lines out to centre field during the fourth inning of an exhibition game against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday in Los Angeles. (AP)

BETTS GETS $365M, 12-YEAR DEAL WITH DODGERS THROUGH 2032

By GREG BEACHAM AP Sports Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Even before Mookie Betts played his first game in Dodger Blue, the superstar outfielder decided his future is in Los Angeles.

Betts and the Dodgers have struck baseball’s first big-money deal since the coronavirus pandemic decimated the sport’s economics, with Betts agreeing yesterday to a $365 million, 12-year contract through 2032.

The massive deal removes the top offensive player from next offseason’s free-agent class and puts the longtime Boston Red Sox slugger in the middle of LA’s lineup for what he thinks will be the rest of his career. The Dodgers only acquired Betts in a trade February 10, but he eagerly bypassed the uncertainties of free agency for a secure future with an organisation that already feels like home.

“I just love being here,” Betts said in a video conference call from Dodger Stadium, where he will make his Dodgers debut today against San Francisco. “I love everything

about here. I’m here to win some rings and bring championships back to LA. That’s all I’m focused on.”

Betts’ new deal is baseball’s second-largest in total dollars behind the $426.5 million, 12-year contract for Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout covering 2019-30. Trout and Betts are arguably the top two outfielders in the game, and now they’ve both got deals that should keep them playing 32 miles apart for at least the next decade.

“I’m excited for him,” said Trout, who texted his congratulations to Betts.

“We kind of went through the same situation. I was laughing because of the physical he probably had to take, because mine lasted about 10 hours. Being so close to him now, it’s pretty cool to have him out here.

Southern California is great.”

Betts, who turns 28 in October, was acquired along with pitcher David Price for three promising Dodgers prospects in a blockbuster trade that signalled Los Angeles’ determination to win the World Series after claiming the NL pennants in 2017 and 2018.

Abraham to walk Chelsea’s second goal over the line.

With cordite filling the air from the pyrotechnics set off by Liverpool fans, it was Chelsea celebrating again. Pulisic brought down a cross with his chest and, with his back to goal, swiveled before striking into the net.

But Liverpool had the final say with a goal that showed just why it is champion again with an 18-point lead heading into the final day.

It came from a counterattack launched after Chelsea had a free kick near the Liverpool penalty area.

And it was launched by 19-year-old Liverpoolborn Curtis Jones, who was brought on to make a fifth league appearance that ensures he would collect a winners’ medal.

Sadio Mane then fed Andy Robertson who skipped past Jorginho before rampaging down the left flank and feeding Oxlade-Chamberlain at the back post to fire into the net.

LIVERPOOL’s Trent Alexander-Arnold scores his side’s second goal from a free-kick against Chelsea yesterday.

(AP)

PAGE 20, Thursday, July 23, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

ONE-YEAR-TO-GO: This aerial photo shows the New National Stadium, main stadium for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, in Tokyo, Tuesday, July 21, 2020. The postponed Tokyo Olympics have again reached the one-year-to-go mark. But the celebration is small this time with more questions than answers about how the Olympics can happen in the middle of a pandemic. That was before COVID-19 postponed the Olympics and pushed back the opening to July 23, 2021. (Kyodo News via AP)

POSTPONED TOKYO OLYMPICS HIT ONE-YEAR-TO-GO MARK — AGAIN

By STEPHEN WADE AP Sports Writer TOKYO (AP) — The Tokyo Olympics have hit the one-year-to-go mark — again. But few are in a mood to celebrate.

Tokyo observed the original date a year ago. That was before the COVID-19 pandemic postponed the Olympics and pushed back the opening to July 23, 2021.

Fireworks cascaded over Tokyo Bay back then, and local celebrities unveiled the medals in a highly choreographed show. There’s none of that this time.

Organisers produced a 15-minute, no-fans event today inside the new national stadium; screening a video to promote next year’s opening. They also teased the presence of the Olympic flame, which arrived in Japan in March and had been hidden away ever since.

The low-key event on a rainy day captures the local mood. A poll a few days ago from Japanese news agency Kyodo repeated the results of recent surveys: Japanese are sceptical the games should go ahead, and doubtful they will.

The poll showed 23.9 per cent favoured holding the Olympics, 36.4 per cent said the Olympics should be postponed again, and 33.7 per cent said it should be cancelled.

Organisers and the International Olympic Committee have ruled out another postponement. The Tokyo Games would be cancelled this time if they can’t be held. “I don’t think that people have a sense of anticipation in a happy way to celebrate a one-year-togo event,” Yoshiro Mori, the president of the organising committee, said last week.

In an interview yesterday with Japanese broadcaster NHK, Mori was blunt. He was asked: “If this kind of situation (with COVID-19) continues, is it possible to hold the games?”

“If current situation continues, we couldn’t,” he replied, though he said he was optimistic about a vaccine and confident the pandemic would recede.

Tokyo is staking its hopes on “simplification.” Organisers have come up with roughly “200 items” that may be simplified, downsized, or cut out. The rigour is driven by soaring costs and the risk of the Olympics becoming a petri dish.

CEO Toshiro Muto has said the 206 national Olympic committees, dozens of sports federations, sponsors, broadcasters, media, and hospitality providers, have been asked to find ways to reduce the size of their delegations arriving in Tokyo.

Muto said organisers are “reexamining service levels and requirements in every possible area.”

IOC President Thomas Bach has said “nothing is taboo” as billions in

costs pile up. There is one untouchable: the quota of 11,000 athletes and 4,400 Paralympians will not be cut, and competition schedules and the 42 venues will remain the same. That opens the way for TV broadcasts to go ahead, the lifeblood of the IOC. The IOC had income of $5.7 billion over the last four-year Olympic cycle, and 73 per cent was from selling broadcast rights. Another 18 per cent was from top sponsors.

Billions in television revenue will be lost if the games aren’t held next year, imperiling the IOC’s finances.

Getting the Olympics on television and other platforms is a priority, along with keeping the athletes safe off-camera. The American network NBC, the biggest single source of income for the IOC, pays an average of about $1.2 billion for each Olympics.

The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics follow Tokyo by only six months. A cancellation could put Beijing at risk, turning the spotlight on China’s human rights record in Hong Kong, and the treatment of its Uighur population. Beijing was awarded the games in 2015.

For Tokyo, there are more questions than answers.

Will there be fans? If so, will they be fans from aboard, or only Japanese?

Will athletes face quarantines, and will there be a vaccine? Should young athletes be a priority for a scarce vaccine, and will all agree to be vaccinated?

How will athletes be safe in the crowded Athletes Village? How about staffing levels for officials, coaches, and tens of thousands who work behind the scenes?

Tokyo had planned to use at least 80,000 unpaid volunteers.

Said IOC vice president John Coates, who oversees preparations for Tokyo: “We don’t know what’s going to be necessary. We don’t know what the state of COVID-19 is going to be next year. But we need to be preparing for it now.”

Some scientists are skeptical. Others say it’s possible.Kentaro Iwata, a Japanese professor of infectious disease, has said: “To be honest with you, I don’t think the Olympics is likely to be held next year. Dr Ali Khan, an epidemiologist and dean of the College of Public Health at the University of Nebraska, suggested the games can be pulled off.

Japan has closed its borders to citizens from 129 countries. “First, Japan needs to commit to ramp up its containment efforts and get to zero cases like New Zealand,” Khan wrote.

“Next they need to develop a set of tiered operating levels based on global transmission to handle athletes, supporting staff, press, vendors, and fans.

Expect national quarantine of players and others before arriving in Tokyo, and then retesting afterward.”