Maynard James Keenan Says He Had COVID-19, Details Illness
Maynard James Keenan revealed in a new interview that he contracted COVID-19 and is still dealing with side-effects from the illness.
Keenan told AZ Central he had the virus in February saying, “I’m still dealing with the residual effects. But it was ugly. I survived it, but it wasn’t pretty. So I definitely had to deal with that.”
He decided not to go public with having COVID-19 because, “I kind of didn’t want to run around screaming it.”
Keenan adds, “But it’s real. And there’s after-effects. I had to go through some major medications to undo the residual effects. Still coughing. There’s still lung damage. Several of my friends, too. Very not old people, young people, in shape, runners, who contracted it as well. And they’re still dealing with some of the after-effects. I lost a few family members.”
When asked if he was feeling better months later, Keenan said, “Well no. I still have the cough. Every other day, I have these coughing fits because my lungs are still damaged at the tips. And I just got over the inflammation that was going on with my wrist and hands. I had an autoimmune attack on my system in the form of, like, a rheumatoid arthritis. Basically, from what I understand, it attacks weird spots and it’s random. So that’s what I got. That was my prize.”
Keenan’s currently promoting the new Puscifer album Existential Reckoning, which comes out October 30. Obviously, there won’t be a tour to promote the album any time soon, but Keenan said, “I would love to go out on tour. But I wouldn’t want to put my family through that if something awful happened to friends or family because of it.”
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