WESLEY CHAPEL, Fla. -- The Tampa Bay Lightning may have skated away with the Stanley Cup this year, but another big win came out of the NHL Playoffs: no coronavirus cases reported inside the bubble. 


What You Need To Know

  • NHL reports zero positive tests out of more than 33,000 during playoffs

  • Lightning doctor says daily testing and symptom and temperature checks kept players and staff safe

  • Doc says bubble takeaways include a need to be aware of symptoms

Team Chiropractic Physician Dr. Tim Bain has returned to work at the offices of B3 Medical, of which he's the CEO, after spending 65 days in the bubble with the Bolts.

"You just dig right back in. It's been exciting because all these people that were here in Tampa that work with us, our team is fantastic," said Bain.

Of his time with the other team, Bain said the NHL took a number of precautions to ensure safety.

"From the day they started to announce kind of what we were doing, you started to go, 'Oh, my gosh -- the logistics of this whole thing,'" Bain said.

Bain said he quarantined with his family for 10 days before leaving for Canada. Inside the bubble, days started by taking a symptom survey through an app. There were also daily testing and temperature checks, as well as extra cleaning. He said masks were also worn regularly.

"I think that was the other thing that the NHL did differently than a lot of other leagues -- they created this massive buy-in," said Bain. "It's a bubble -- you could've left...but nobody did. Nobody challenged that authority because they wanted this to work."

Bain said there are takeaways from the bubble that people can put into effect in their everyday lives that can help fight the coronavirus. Part of that starts with awareness.

"I think our culture has been so much that you work through sickness," said Bain. "We all have to take a little bit better responsibility in the day-to-day world to say, 'I don't feel right. It's not about me getting through school. I can get and make up that work, but if I go to school and I really do have something that's really bad, then I can infect everybody else.'"

According to information from the NHL, more than 33,000 COVID-19 tests were administered between July 26 and September 28 with zero positive results.