An outbreak of the norovirus among the Navy men’s lacrosse team has forced this weekend’s game against Maryland to be postponed in the interest of public health.
Navy Norovirus Outbreak Forces Cancellation Of Maryland Game This Weekend
Info From The Statement
The University of Maryland Athletics released a statement on Friday with the following information:
Out of an abundance of caution and for the sake of public health, the medical personnel at the University of Maryland and the Naval Academy determined that Saturday’s men’s lacrosse game be postponed.
Single-game ticket purchases will be refunded to the credit card of the original purchase.
A new time and date for the game have not yet been established.
Background
The Air Force Academy was reported as having had over 400 cadets contract the norovirus last November in what was another major spread of disease at a service academy.
Outbreaks like this have been reported as happening from time to time at other military facilities, like the norovirus outbreak at multiple U.S. German military facilities during January of 2019 or the norovirus outbreak at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait in May of 2018.
This is actually not the first major spread of disease to happen on the Naval Academy campus, as WJZ in Baltimore reported in 2011 that over 100 people were sickened with what was believed to be viral gastroenteritis at a state swimming competition.
There are different viruses that can cause gastroenteritis, but norovirus is reportedly one of the most common.
The San Diego Seals relocated its game at the MCAS Miramar this year due to the MCAS Miramar handling coronavirus patients. While the coronavirus and the norovirus are two very completely different diseases (the norovirus is rarely fatal and is largely described as the stomach flu) this announcement by Maryland Lacrosse marks another major lacrosse game that has been cancelled due to the potential spread of disease this year.
Information will become available in the future as to the rescheduling of the game.
