Elephants were being poached and hunted every day. every 15 minuets, one would die. that means every day, around 100 would die.
People are selfish, and greedy. its the way we are. its the way we are "wired". its our instinct. its embedded in us, and its been this way since the very first human walked the earth. our main focus is our self, not anything or anyone else. we don't think about what MIGHT happen if we do it, but only whats happening NOW.
People get money, and of course, money is what drives most people. its also a source of entertainment is some countries. In some places, elephants are used for labor, and beaten when they do something wrong. Now, some people do it because its "fun". We are they barbaric, that we think killing another is "fun". And we call animals we think less than ourselves barbaric, when they may be smarter than er will ever be.
In some places, the corona virus has had a negative effect on elephants, but that's not what we are talking about. Elephants are no longer being forced to be ridden, and less and less people are going out to poach them, or traveling to abuse them. they are no longer being forced to do things for an audience. one no longer exists.
Yes, it is possible, considering we don't know a lot about this new virus but there are no cases of it, and they only tend to get one human virus, which is the cold, so they have had experience with a corona virus, so their immune systems will b less likely to die from it.
Though there will probably be negative affects for the elephants being forced into domestication, there will most likely be a positive affect for them, especially the ones in protected and marked off grounds.