WHITESNAKE's DAVID COVERDALE Says It's 'Breathtaking' To See People Ignoring Coronavirus Social Distancing Guidelines

WHITESNAKE singer David Coverdale has told Ultimate Classic Rock in a new interview that he is concerned about people not following the CDC's social distancing guidelines created in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

"It's just a really challenging time," he said. "I see some people taking the protocols seriously and others just completely ignoring it. As if they're immune to the worst biblical challenge we've had for millennia. It's breathtaking to me. I don't know whether it's arrogance or the imagination that they're immune for whatever reason."

Back in late March, it was announced that all of WHITESNAKE's previously announced touring activities, including this summer's U.S. trek with SAMMY HAGAR & THE CIRCLE and NIGHT RANGER, were being canceled so that Coverdale could undergo surgery for bilateral inguinal hernia.

Coverdale had both his knees replaced with titanium in 2017 after suffering from degenerative arthritis. He later explained that he was in so much pain with arthritis in his knees that it hampered his ability to perform live.

"At my age, I have to be really careful," the 68-year old former DEEP PURPLE frontman told Ultimate Classic Rock. "I can't get my health issues dealt with because the hospitals are dealing with life-threatening virus victims. We'll get through this. The reason we've survived hundreds of thousands of years is because we adapt. We have to — we've been given no choice. But this is a hell of a thing to adapt to."

WHITESNAKE has been touring in support of its latest album, "Flesh & Blood", which was released in May 2019 via Frontiers Music Srl. The disc follows the 2011 critically acclaimed studio album "Forevermore" and 2015's "The Purple Album", a reimagining of DEEP PURPLE classics from Coverdale's time in that band.