Royal Pretender: Prince Charles SCHOOLED Over 'Inaccurate' COVID-19 Claim
As a COVID-19 survivor himself, Prince Charles failed to impress people when he shared his thoughts on how the environment is affecting the coronavirus pandemic.
The monarchy's future King has been a dedicated environmentalist ever since he started his public engagements. In fact, he penned two books titled "Harmony: A New Way of Looking at Our World" and "Climate Change (A Ladybird Expert Book)" in 2010 and 2017, respectively, where he tackled about his environmental concerns.
But his recent "call to revolution" when he blamed the worseing biodiversity as the cause of COVID-19 only garnered criticisms from experts.
To recall, on June 4, the heir to the throne sat for an interview with Sky News and talked about how humanity was "paying the price" for its poor treatment of the planet.
He blatantly added that further pandemics may continue to exist if such an act is not corrected.
"The more we erode the natural world, the more we destroy what's called biodiversity, which is the immense diversity of live, plant life, tree life, everything else, marine life, the more we expose ourselves to this kind of danger," Prince Charles said, referencing other health crises such as SARS and Ebola.
The Prince of Wales went on to claim that all of the dreaded diseases are related to the worsening status of the environment.
He failed to explain why he thinks that way, but he urged everyone to do their jobs as the environment will be the key in rebuilding the world during the post-coronavirus pandemic.
In the end, he said that he is keen to make a change since he became a victim of COVID-19 himself.
What The Experts Said About Prince Charles' Claims
After Prince Charles unrolled his points, virologists and experts all over the globe did not stay silent. Instead, they explained what COVID-19 really is and tried to educate the Prince of Wales.
In an exclusive interview with Express.co.uk, Professor Keith Neal, Emeritus Professor of the Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases at the University of Nottingham, said that Prince Charles' statements were "not scientifically accurate".
"Too many people without scientific knowledge are commenting as if they have expertise," he began. "Technically pandemics are caused by too much biodiversity in wet markets, but as we threaten biodiversity and encourch on wild animals we are focusing more human-animal contacts, so we increase risk."
The professor added that COVID-19 is not like Ebola in West Africa. Though he corrected the heir to the throne, Professor Neal still said that Prince Charles "is not completely wrong in spirit," only "not scientifically accurate."
Meanwhile, Ian Jones, professor of virology at Reading University, also shared the same sentiments and told Express.co.uk that biodiversity and pandemics are linked but at the "big picture" level.
He said that flu pandemics like COVID-19 and SARS are more "part of the natural cycle".
"It's important to remember the more local level, the bushmeat trade and generally poor hygiene measures, which are equally if not more important," Professor Jones added.
