President Donald Trump Friday abruptly cut short his daily coronavirus briefing at the White House after only 20 minutes to escape scathing questions from reporters about his wrong and dangerous claim people should inject themselves with disinfectant to cure COVID-19. Trump spends up to three hours at these almost daily briefings, which he sees as a pulpit for his re-election campaign.
On Thursday, Trump told dumbfounded reporters, and a national TV audience, about his belief ingesting a disinfectant will likely cure a person suffering from COVID-19. Trump then added to his misery by saying exposing a sick person to intense light, or to ultraviolet (UV) light, inserted inside a human body can also cure the disease.
Trump was widely and loudly criticized by doctors and medical experts worldwide for making these nonsensical and dangerous statements, which can lead to people killing themselves.
Reckitt Benckiser, the maker of Lysol, went so far as to issue a public statement urging Americans not to attempt to inject or consume Lysol after Trump said doing so can cure COVID-19. The company said "under no circumstance should our disinfectant products be administered into the human body (through injection, ingestion or any other route)." Notable medical professionals also criticized Trump.
"I think we need to speak very clearly that there's no circumstance under which you should take a disinfectant or inject a disinfectant for the treatment of anything, and certainly not for the treatment of coronavirus," said Dr. Scott Gottlieb, Trump's former Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioner. "There's absolutely no circumstance under which that's appropriate and it can cause death and very adverse outcomes."
Walter Shaub, former director of the Office of Government Ethics, said, "It is incomprehensible to me that a moron like this holds the highest office in the land and that there exist people stupid enough to think this is OK. I can't believe that in 2020 I have to caution anyone listening to the president that injecting disinfectant could kill you."
Dr. Vin Gupta affirms any amount of bleach or isopropyl alcohol or any kind of common household cleaner is inappropriate for ingestion even in small amounts. Dr Gupta, a pulmonologist, global health policy expert and an NBC News and MSNBC contributor, said even small ingested amounts are deadly.
"This notion of injecting or ingesting any type of cleansing product into the body is irresponsible and it's dangerous," emphasized Dr. Gupta. "It's a common method that people utilize when they want to kill themselves."
On Thursday on TV, Trump declared an "injection" of a disinfectant into a person infected by SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, the virus that causes COVID-19) can cure the virus. He didn't specify which disinfectant he had in mind.
"And then I see the disinfectant where it knocks it out in a minute," said Trump. "One minute. And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning? Because you see it gets on the lungs, and it does a tremendous number on the lungs. So it'd be interesting to check that. So that you're going to have to use medical doctors, but it sounds -- it sounds interesting to me."
He also asserted a very powerful light or ultraviolet (UV) light inside the human body can also kill the coronavirus.
"So supposing we hit the body with a tremendous -- whether it's ultraviolet or just a very powerful light -- and I think you said that hasn't been checked because of the testing. And then I said, supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or some other way, and I think you said you're going to test that, too."
Trump made these inane remarks after a Homeland Security official mentioned the ability of disinfectants like bleach to kill SARS-CoV-2 on surfaces. This official gave a presentation on research his team conducted, claiming to shows the coronavirus doesn't live long in warmer and more humid temperatures in defense of Trump's claims about this made in February.
"The virus dies quickest in sunlight," claimed Bill Bryan, who leads the Department of Homeland Security's science and technology division. Bryan's remarks also led Trump to wonder out loud if one can bring the light "inside the body."
