Coronavirus: medical experts denounce Trump's theory of 'disinfectant injection'
Doctors warn US president’s musings on disinfectant as
a cure for coronavirus could lead to death
David Smith
in Washington
@smithinamerica
Fri 24 Apr
2020 09.27 BSTFirst published on Fri 24 Apr 2020 02.56 BST
Donald
Trump has stunned viewers by suggesting that people could receive injections of
disinfectant to cure the coronavirus, a notion one medical expert described as
“jaw-dropping”.
At
Thursday’s White House coronavirus taskforce briefing, the US president
discussed new government research on how the virus reacts to different
temperatures, climates and surfaces.
“And then I
see the disinfectant where it knocks it out in a minute,” Trump said. “One
minute! And is there a way we can do something, by an injection inside or
almost a cleaning? Because you see it gets in 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 with, but it sounds interesting to
me.”
Dr Deborah
Birx, the taskforce response coordinator, remained silent. But social media
erupted in hilarity and outrage at the president, who has a record of defying
science and also floated the idea of treating patients’ bodies with ultraviolet
(UV) light.
Several
doctors warned the public against injecting disinfectant or using UV light.
Robert
Reich, a professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley
and a former labor secretary, tweeted: “Trump’s briefings are actively
endangering the public’s health. Boycott the propaganda. Listen to the experts.
And please don’t drink disinfectant.”
Walter
Shaub, the former director of the Office of Government Ethics, added: “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.”
Trump was
already facing a backlash over his championing of hydroxychloroquine, an
anti-malaria drug, as a therapy for the coronavirus, a quixotic effort amplified
by the conservative network Fox News. Research has found no evidence that it is
beneficial and a government vaccine expert has claimed he was fired for
limiting its use.
Undeterred,
on Thursday Trump showcased an “emerging result” from Department of Homeland
Security research that indicates coronavirus appears to weaken more quickly
when exposed to sunlight, heat and humidity, raising hopes that it could become
less contagious in summer months.
William
Bryan, the acting homeland security undersecretary for science and technology,
said at the briefing: “Our most striking observation to date is the powerful
effect that solar light appears to have on killing the virus, both surfaces and
in the air. We’ve seen a similar effect with both temperature and humidity as
well, where increasing the temperature and humidity or both is generally less
favorable to the virus.”
Researchers
found that the virus survives best indoors and in dry conditions, and loses
potency when temperatures and humidity rise. Bryan said: “The virus dies
quickest in the presence of direct sunlight.”
He showed a
slide summarising the results of the experiment that were carried out at the
National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center. He also said tests had
been carried out with disinfectants. “I can tell you that bleach will kill the
virus in five minutes. Isopropyl alcohol will kill the virus in 30 seconds and
that’s with no manipulation, no rubbing.”
Trump
prompted awkwardness when he asked if Dr Birx had heard of heat and light in
relation to coronavirus. ‘Not as a treatment,’ she said.
FacebookTwitterPinterest
Trump prompted awkwardness when he asked if Dr Birx had heard of heat and light
in relation to coronavirus. ‘Not as a treatment,’ she said. Photograph:
REX/Shutterstock
Trump
seized on the findings to refer back to a claim he made on 14 February that
warm weather might kill the virus, like common flu, noting that he had been
criticised by the media. “I think a lot of people are going to go outside, all
of a sudden, people that didn’t want to go outside,” he said.
And he
asked Bryan an extraordinary question: “So supposing we hit the body with a
tremendous, whether it’s ultraviolet or just very powerful light and I think
you said that hasn’t been checked but you’re going to test it. And then I said
supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can do either
through the skin or in some other way. And I think you’re going to test that
too?”
UV rays are
an invisible type of radiation that can penetrate and damage skin cells, and
overexposure can cause skin cancer. How much sunlight would be needed to have
an effect on the coronavirus is unknown. The virus has caused heavy death tolls
in warm-weather areas such as Louisiana and Florida, and Singapore has seen a
recent surge in cases.
A
Washington Post reporter asked if it was dangerous for Trump to make people
think they would be safe by going outside in summer heat. The president turned
to Bryan and said: “I would like you to speak to the medical doctors to see if
there’s any way that you can apply light and heat to cure.
“Maybe you
can, maybe you can’t. Again, I say, maybe you can, maybe you can’t. I’m not a
doctor.”
In a
cringeworthy moment, he asked Birx if she had ever heard of heat and light in
relation to the coronavirus. “Not as a treatment,” she said, explaining that
the body responds to the virus with a fever.
When the
Post reporter pressed further, Trump retorted: “I’m the president and you’re
fake news … I’m just here to present talent, I’m here to present ideas.”
Experts
questioned why the homeland security report had been promoted at the briefing.
Dr Irwin Redlener, the director of the Center for Disaster Preparedness at
Columbia University, told the MSNBC network: “Everything that this scientist
talked about from homeland security was basically incoherent, nonsensical, not
really supported by evidence and really quite contrary to a lot of things that
we do know about some of the things he was saying.
“First of
all, people do get Covid, have been getting Covid in warm climates, including
New Orleans but also other countries that have a warm climate right now. Second
of all, this issue with UV light is hypothetical but also UV light can be very
harmful and we did not hear anything resembling a balanced discussion of what
the evidence is for and against UV light, but it’s certainly not ready for
prime time.”
He added:
“The very fact that the president actually asked somebody about what sounded
like injecting disinfectants or isopropyl alcohol into the human body was kind
of jaw-dropping.”
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário