Elton John stays upbeat despite COVID-19 crisis

Elton John one

As the COVID-19 pandemic rages on, what we can do, Elton John said, is to maintain an optimistic outlook and be more empathetic toward people ris­king their lives for everyone else’s safety.

“You have to be positive and say, ‘An end will come to this.’ We don’t know when. But hopefully … Scientists have never been so busy now, trying to find something that works, trying to find a vaccine. But that takes time,” the music icon said in an interview with Zane Lowe on Apple Music.

The British singer-songwriter cautioned people about hoarding essentials, saying that they could end up leaving other people, especially the front-li­ners, with nothing.

“People are buying everything in supermarkets. And then people who are working like 40-hour shifts in the NHS (The National Health Service) come off their shift exhaus­ted, go to the supermarket, and there’s nothing for them to buy,” he said.

These are the people “doing all the hard work,” he stressed. “So we have to think of o­ther people who are a little bit more … the people that are doing the work, the nurses, the doctors that need the food as well.”

The virus outbreak has brought the music industry—the touring scene, specifi­cally—to a standstill. And he doesn’t see its gears turning anytime soon.

“I’m afraid that tours a­ren’t going to happen until after the summer probably,” he surmised. “I don’t think, realisti­cally speaking, that we, artists, can expect to go back on the road. And so people are going to take solace in music.”

For now, Elton is spen­ding his downtime in his home together with his family: Husband, David Furnish, and children, Zachary and Elijah.

“You just have to listen to what people tell you. And that’s what I’m doing. We’re in the house here and the boys are here … and we’re hunkering down and we’re just … everything so far, so good,” Elton related. “I’m enjoying it because I don’t spend that much time with my family during the day … So cherish it while you can.”

The pandemic is something Elton has “never lived through in my lifetime—none of us have.” But the 73-year-old musician can only hope that we all emerge from this crisis as better people.

“Every cloud has a silver lining. Maybe this will bring people together and be far more thoughtful about each other in a world where we’re so selfish, me included,” he said. “It gives us time to reflect on what life’s all about. And it’s about love and sharing and generosity of spirit and coming together as one.” INQ