Sammy Hagar isn’t afraid of COVID-19, says he’s not locking down anymore

Hard rock stalwart Sammy Hagar has had it with the coronavirus lockdowns. While the 72-year-old musician is in a high-risk demographic, he says he’s no longer afraid of contracting the virus.

Speaking to Missouri’s KSHE 95 radio, the former Van Halen frontman said he was initially anxious about contracting the disease. “When it first came out and they said people over 60 are at risk of dying — it was that big of a deal — I got a little nervous,” he said.

But Hagar soon started to enjoy the enforced global slow-down. “My whole life I’ve worked every day of my life,” he said. “I worked every freakin’ day of my life in some fashion on one of my projects — either I’m recording or I’m writing, or whatever. So all of a sudden I went, ‘Man, I don’t have anything to do.’ I go wake up in the morning, just put on my bathing suit like I always do, and not have to get dressed, not have to go anywhere.”

However, Hagar may have got too relaxed, as he now doesn’t see the point in the lockdowns. “I really thought about my age and about what could happen, when I was still worried about this possibly killing me,” he said. “And you know what I thought of? I thought, ‘you know what? I’ve had the best life of any human being on this planet. If the damn thing wants to come and get me and kill me, let it be.’”

Hagar’s attitude to death is commendably Zen, but he’s missing the point. If he got sick, it’d mean another patient in hospital and he’d also risk giving the coronavirus to the people around him. But these considerations apparently don’t trump his frustration at spending so much time at home in his bathers.

“I don’t say the word hate very much, but I hate this freakin’ coronavirus crap,” he said. “And I’m not afraid of it, and I’m not locking down anymore. I’ll go around to anyone. If you don’t wanna be around me, fine – keep your distance. I’m all cool with that. It’s not like I’m against that. But I’m sorry — I have no fear at my age about it.”