Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan is recovering from his second bout with coronavirus.
Keenan first contracted COVID-19 in February while touring with Tool in Australia and New Zealand. Months later, he was still dealing with the residual effects, including lung damage and daily coughing fits.
Unfortunately, Keenan’s second battle with COVID was even more harrowing. “Ugly, ugly. Couldn’t breathe. I could barely put two words together without going into a coughing fit that, you know? It ended up kind of also progressing into pneumonia,” Keenan told Apple Music’s Strombo in an interview on Wednesday (via Billboard).
By early December, Keenan ended up in the ER. “If stayed in the hospital, they said, ‘Okay, we can keep you here, but you’re fighting 12 other people for a bed and a ventilator we don’t have, so what do you want to do?’” Keenan recalled.
“There’s nothing you can do other than treat the symptom, so for a real cough medicine, not the crap over-the-counter and then like an inhaler, and some antibiotics to fight the pneumonia and strap the f— in,” he added.
Following his initial battle with COVID, Keenan blasted “arrogant” Americans who willfully ignore public health guidelines. “I knew what I went through and I know what I’m still going through, so I would recommend that you take this seriously, but I feel like that’s just going to fall on deaf ears,” he said. “It’s just going to be a polarized, politicized statement, so it’s pointless. In that case, I’m just going to worry about keeping my family safe and keeping my friends safe.”
For the sake of Keenan and everyone else, please mask up. Better yet, considering picking up one of our custom face masks as a portion of proceeds go to supporting independent musicians impacted by the pandemic.
