Hey — nobody's gonna tell Roger Daltrey how best to protect his or his community's health! The Who frontman was adamant in his plans to defy global scientists' urging to self-quarantine to curb the spread of Covid-19.
Daltrey told The Express, “I live in the countryside so it's a lot easier, I cannot imagine what it must be like stuck in London in a flat with a couple of kids. I'm not moaning about anything but equally as a 76-year-old, I'm not going to be told by anybody to stay in. Go f*** yourselves. We can't wrap ourselves in cotton wool.”
Daltrey went on to say, “For every academic that's telling us one thing on the science, there's any equally academic scientist on the other side of the fence saying: 'No, you're wrong and this what we should do.' No wonder the public's confused, no wonder the Government's confused and no wonder that, all around the world, there are different results on how we're getting through it.”
Daltrey, who's own patron charity the Teenage Cancer Trust saw its week-long fundraising concerts at London's Royal Albert Hall sidelined due to the pandemic, added: “I'm very proud of us for that, and again our frontline clinicians and clinical care workers, I'll clap all day long for. I do feel sorry for young musicians, and y'know also, orchestral musicians, these people that have studied for years and years and years to play in orchestras. They're all out of work — the road crews, the truck drivers, the lighting people, the whole industry is sitting on its fingers, it's horrendous.”
Over the past few years, Roger Daltrey has been forced to pay serious attention to his own health while out on the road. As many fans remember, in the fall of 2015, Daltrey was struck down with a near fatal case of meningitis. During the Who's massive road trek in 2006/2007 behind their Endless Wire album, Daltrey fell ill numerous times with what many believed was a near-chronic bronchial infection.
In truth, Daltrey's condition was far worse than a simple illness, he had depleted nearly all of his body's sodium, which he now monitors constantly: “I was just completely wiped. My body temperature was going up and down all over the place, and my thyroid. . . I just went for a blood test and everything was out — and there was no sodium. I mean, it was like, 'woo.' They were going to hospitalize me, I wouldn't let them. 'Cause that would've been like a prison to me. If I do any intensive work where I sweat, yeah, I take it immediately. Y'know, ignorance is wonderful isn't it — or not so wonderful when it catches you up (laughs)!”
