The Tampa Bay Lightning have re-opened their training facility five days after it closed due to multiple members of the organization testing positive for COVID-19.
Last Friday, the team shut down the facility after three players and some additional staff members who had been in the building tested positive for coronavirus. In a statement announcing the positive tests, Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois said the facility would “remain temporarily shut down until we can ensure a safe environment.”
Phase 2 of the NHL’s return-to-play plan allowed players to begin skating in groups of six at team facilities after testing negative for the virus. The NHL announced last Friday that since Phase 2 began June 8, over 200 players had been tested for the virus and 11 had been positive.
The state of Florida has been seeing record numbers of positive cases since it began re-opening parts of the economy earlier this month. The state added an additional 3,286 cases on Tuesday, according to CNN, and has seen 103,503 total positive tests since the pandemic began.