Rocker had Covid during NZ shows Of Covid in managed isolation

TOOL frontman Maynard James Keenan says he might have been New Zealand’s first ‘‘superspreader’’ after admitting he performed in Auckland just days before testing positive for Covid19.

The American rocker revealed in an episode of The Joe Rogan Experience podcast that he began feeling unwell while in Australia prior to his February shows in New Zealand.

Keenan explained how a Kiwi doctor misdiagnosed him upon arrival, and cleared the 56-yearold of having the virus.

And he said he was still dealing with the effects of Covid19 today.

‘‘I was in Australia, we went out to dinner and immediately, food didn’t taste right, I didn’t feel right,’’ Keenan said.

‘‘We didn’t know at the time that these are the things you’re looking for.

‘‘If I’d have known how bad it could have been I would have been freaking out.’’

He spent four days in a New Zealand hotel before the concerts at Spark Arena, ‘‘just trying to get through it’’.

In that time Keenan attempted to drink ‘‘a lot of water’’ and did ‘‘a pretty good job of self-isolating’’.

He said he also saw a New Zealand doctor, but was told he didn’t have Covid-19 because he didn’t have a fever.

‘‘I asked the doctor, ‘do you think this could be Covid’? And he said ‘did you have a fever?’ – ‘I don’t remember if I had a fever’ ... ‘then you don’t have Covid’.’’

The concerts went ahead, to rave reviews, but Keenan said it was a struggle.

‘‘The singingwas tough. We had to kind of adjust the set around a little – don’t put the hard ones in.’’

Keenan also said he did some kick-boxing training before departing New Zealand, bound for Hawaii, where he was officially diagnosed with Covid19 some days later.

He believed he was still suffering from lung damage, months after his recovery.

‘‘Every other day I’ll have a coughing fit for 10 minutes, coughing up stuff, so I have lung damage from it still,’’ he said.

There were 11 new Covid-19 cases in New Zealand yesterday, all in managed isolation.

New Zealand’s total number of active cases is now 74 and the total number of confirmed cases is 1578.

Arab Emirates. There are now 74 active cases in New Zealand.

The new cases come amid a new community cluster in Auckland. A port worker, two of his work contacts and one of their household contacts, who works at Westpac NZ’s head office, have all tested positive. Up to 120 gymgoers may be casual contacts of one case after swiping into Snap Fitness Browns Bay on Saturday, October 17, and may have to selfisolate until their tests came back negative. Ten people who attended the gym’s I Am Hope bootcamp on Browns Bay beach were considered close contacts and had to remain in self-isolation for 14 days, no matter their result.

Earlier, Stuff revealed one of the positive cases runs a bed and breakfast in Coatesville, but the ministry did not inform the guests of their host’s diagnosis or tell them to be tested, saying they were not considered close contacts.