Rays' Kevan Smith Says Players Have Been Mocked For Wearing Face Masks

COVID-19 numbers continue to soar across the United States, especially in states like California, Texas and Florida. But some people are taking the virus more seriously than others.

Kevan Smith has experienced this first-hand. The Pennsylvania native recently traveled to Florida for the Tampa Bay Rays’ Summer Camp, and he’s noticed a couple of differences in the way people react to the virus during his brief stay in the Sunshine State.

One major difference, Smith noted, is mask usage.

“Pennsylvania feels like it’s a lot different up there than down here,” Smith said Saturday, according to The Athletic’s Josh Tolentino. “Obviously, the numbers are a lot worse here. But I felt like you couldn’t even walk outside without a mask on (at home). And then here (in Florida), you go out with a mask and we have guys getting called names and all of the above. So just a totally different feel around the country.

“(One Rays teammate) was in a store shopping for food and was called a pansy. It’s like, ‘little do they know.’ I went out briefly to just pick up some takeout food and I swear I got like a dozen eyeballs on me looking at me like I’m the weird (one) walking in with a mask.”

As you likely know, the Centers for Disease Control has recommended all Americans wear face coverings to help reduce the spread of the virus when social distancing is difficult to maintain. And to Smith, it’s not that big a deal.

So, he called out the people who think it is.

“It’s just very immature or whatever you want to call it,” Smith said. “But it’s just comical. I mean it. It’s going on all over the world. We’re seeing it firsthand here, so we’ve just got to stick within our realm and just do what we’ve got to do to stay responsible and everything should be fine.”