Celine Dion salutes ‘heroic’ pandemic workers on frontline of COVID-19 fight ahead of massive virtual concert
Celine Dion has paid tribute to frontline COVID-19 workers as the Canadian superstar is set to take part in a virtual concert alongside Jennifer Lopez and Paul McCartney, encouraging fans to stay home.
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Canadian singer Celine Dion has posted a heartwarming thank-you to the “heroic” workers on the frontline of the coronavirus fight and urged her fans to respect virus lockdown orders.
The video shot in the superstar’s kitchen in English and in French had more than 2.5 million views across her social media feeds.
“Let’s take care of each other and I know we will get through this together,” she told her fans in the English version of the clip.
“There are so many heroes out there around the world who are going to work every single day, risking their lives, and sometimes sacrificing their lives for the rest of us,” she said.
“These people have families and loved ones who they’re worried about, but they still go out to work to save us, to serve us.”
Dion went on to list “health care professionals, first responders, social workers and essential services providers” such as grocery store staff and delivery workers, saying: “We cannot thank all of you enough.”
“We salute your bravery and we pray for you. Thank you so very much for the heroic work that you are doing for our world. We are eternally grateful.” Dion herself is self-isolating.
In September, she kicked off her first world tour in a decade to promote her new album Courage, the first without her husband-manager Rene Angelil, who died from cancer in 2016.
In mid-March, she announced the tour was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with 17 shows in the United States and Canada postponed.
On Saturday, Dion will join other stars including Stevie Wonder, Jennifer Lopez and Paul McCartney for “One World: Together At Home,” a virtual global concert.
The event presented by Global Citizen and the World Health Organization aims to celebrate and support health care and other frontline workers in the virus battle.
‘UNBELIEVABLY SICK’: PINK’S ‘INTENSE’ VIRUS BATTLE
Pop superstar Pink’s husband Carey Hart has opened up about the singer’s battle with coronavirus, describing it as “intense”.
Speaking on US radio, Hart said his wife and three-year-old son Jameson, who also contracted the virus, were both “extremely sick”.
“My son probably got the worst of the two of them, which debunked the whole theory that this only hit old people,” Hart told The Jason Ellis Show on US radio.
“It was intense. They both got extremely sick. My wife got it pretty bad as well. She has asthma. It totally attacked her lungs and her chest. She was having a hard time breathing,” the champion motocross racer said.
Hart said the whole family, which also includes eight-year-old daughter Willow, have been on lockdown since March 11.
“We’ve been on full quarantine since March 11. My family, they hadn’t even left our house just because … there’s not much reason to leave our house, we’re just kind of homebodies. They got started getting sick three or four days later.”
Pink and Jameson didn’t become ill until after the family went into isolation.
“The symptoms started to kick up, we probably stayed home for another 10 days and then my son took a turn for the worse. He’d have extremely high body temperature, I mean he was up around 102F (38C), 103F (39C), for a solid two, going on three weeks straight. The kid was in the bath four or five times a day trying to break his temperature,” Hart said.
“Then, (Pink) was progressively getting worse. So finally we made the decision to head down to our little place in LA to be closer to our paediatrician and my wife’s doctor. We ended up down in LA for five days and then once their symptoms started to break and get behind us, we came back home.”
Hart said he and Willow had “zero symptoms,” while also stating that son Jameson has not been tested for the deadly bug.
“Unfortunately, we only had access to a test for my wife. Not that I don’t really feel we needed more, because we figure the four of us on top of each other for a couple of weeks at this point, one of us has it, we all have it at this point,” he said.
“You kind of have to assume that. We just took the lead on my wife’s test.”
The singer announced her diagnosis via social media on April 3.
“This illness is serious and real,” she said., announcing that she would donate $1US million ($A1.5 million) to coronavirus relief efforts.
“People need to know that the illness affects the young and old, healthy and unhealthy, rich and poor, and we must make testing free and more widely accessible to protect our children, our families, our friends and our communities.”