Too soon. Definitely too soon.
At least that’s the overall reaction to a series of jokes Britain’s Prince William made — to a first responder, no less — about the hysteria surrounding the worldwide outbreak of COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus.
“I bet everyone’s like, ‘I’ve got coronavirus, I’m dying’, and you’re like, ‘No, you’ve just got a cough,’ ” he quipped to first responder Joe Mooney at a reception at the Guinness Storehouse, reported the Evening Standard.
He also wondered aloud whether the world’s obsession with the spreading illness was fully warranted.
“Does it seem quite dramatic about coronavirus at the moment?” he said, according to the Evening Standard. “Is it being a little bit hyped up do you think, in the media?”
He and wife Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, were at a Dublin reception hosted by Robin Barnett, British ambassador to Ireland, during an official tour.
Prince William appeared to be poking fun at himself with the “coughing” comment, the Evening Standard noted, and at anyone who assumes they have coronavirus with every twinge.
He went on to joke, in another conversation, that he and wife Kate Middleton were disseminating the virus by virtue of their travels.
“By the way, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are inadvertently spreading coronavirus, Sorry,” he joked in “mock horror,” as the Evening Standard put it. “We’re keeping an eye on that, so do tell us if we need to stop.”