ESPN First Take panelist Stephen A. Smith has shared he has tested positive for COVID-19 for the second time.
Smith jokingly shared his displeasure about missing the show while Michael Irvin and Dan Orlovsky take the reins while he’s out.
“S.A., I hope you’re resting,” host Molly Qerim said. “We miss you and we will do our best to hold it down.”
“Feel better, Stephen A., but I’m not going to let the moment pass,” Orlovsky joked. “It’s a Monday morning and I’m in your seat. You talk about upgrades, I flew first class (from London), I had a lay down seat laid down like this thinking of Stephen A., and now I’m in his seat? My goodness.”
Last year, Smith tested positive for the virus before developing worsening symptoms that required hospitalization.
“I had a 103-degree fever every night,” Smith said on First Take in January of this year. “Woke up with chills and a pool of sweat. Headaches were massive. Coughing profusely. And it got to a point that right before New Year’s Eve, I was in the hospital New Year’s Eve into New Year’s Day. That’s how I brought in the New Year.
“I had pneumonia in both lungs. My liver was bad. And it ravaged me to the point where even now I have to monitor my volume. Got to get in the gym every day, walk before you run, and work your way back because I’m still not 100 percent with my lungs. But I’m Covid negative and all of that stuff, and I’m on the road to recovery.”
