President Trump’s latest idea to treat the coronavirus is proving hard for many people to swallow.
The president suggested using ultraviolet light inside the body or disinfectant by “injection” to treat COVID-19 during his Thursday press briefing, which has drawn backlash from doctors and critics. Companies like Lysol and Dettol maker Reckitt Benckiser RBGPF, +1.54% were compelled to publicly urge consumers not to swallow or inject its household cleaning products. “Under no circumstance should our disinfectant products be administered into the human body (through injection, ingestion or any other route),” the Slough, England, company said in a statement on Friday.
Also see:Calls to poison-control centers over cleaning products spike during coronavirus outbreak
On Twitter TWTR, +3.15%, hashtags like #DontDrinkBleach and #InjectDisinfectant went viral in response. And Google GOOG, +0.23% searches for “bleach” and “UV light” also spiked. Coronavirus Reponse Coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx was also trending for her visible response to the president’s statements on Thursday. The National Poison Control Center also warned Americans not to use household cleaning products on their produce, or to mix bleach with other cleaning chemicals, which can create toxic gas.
But CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, who has been recovering from the coronavirus-borne disease, had a particularly colorful response to the president’s musings during “Cuomo Prime Time” on Thursday night.
‘Take two shots of Windex, swallow this lightbulb, and call me in the morning. Come on, man!’
“The idea of household disinfectants inside the body. … The only question is where the president got this, or what did he misinterpret?” Cuomo added.
Watch the segment here:
Cuomo Prime Time✔@CuomoPrimeTime
“The study was about surfaces and what kind of light or other type of treatments and different media you could use to affect viruses on surfaces, not in the human body.” – CNN’s @ChrisCuomo on President Trump suggesting injections of UV lights or disinfectants to kill Covid-19.
Granted, Cuomo’s own critics noted that the CNN anchor’s wife, Christina, who along with the couple’s 14-year-old son has also tested positive for COVID-19, revealed that she has been bathing in Clorox as part of her holistic approach. “Both days, I added 1/2 cup of Clorox to my bathwater to combat the radiation and metals in my system and oxygenate it,” she wrote on her Purist wellness blog.
The Proctor & Gamble PG, -0.51% bleach product states on its website, however, that its bleach is “not recommended for personal hygiene of any kind — consumers should always avoid direct skin and eye contacts with both undiluted bleach, as well as prolonged contact with various bleach solutions we recommend for household cleaning and laundry.”
Jennifer Gunter✔@DrJenGunter
I still don’t understand how this isn’t parody. I just can’t even. https://twitter.com/bridgetgillard/status/1253377239896424448 …
Bridget Read✔@bridgetgillard
“Both days, I added ½ cup of Clorox to my bathwater to combat the radiation and metals in my system and oxygenate it.” – Mrs. Chris Cuomohttps://thepuristonline.com/2020/04/the-cuomos-corona-protocol-week-3/ …
What’s more, an infectious-diseases expert told HuffPo that bathing in bleach is “not mainstream or evidence-based medicine,” and also warned about bleach’s tendency toward irritating skin.
That doctor’s recommendation for staying clean: soap and water.
Coronavirus update:Maker of Lysol warns against injecting it and Russia sees major spike in cases overnight
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany responded to the disinfectant discourse on Friday with the following statement: “President Trump has repeatedly said that Americans should consult with medical doctors regarding coronavirus treatment, a point that he emphasized again during yesterday’s briefing. Leave it to the media to irresponsibly take President Trump out of context and run with negative headlines.”
A close ally of the Trump White House, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, had this to contribute Friday morning:
Gov. Mike Huckabee✔@GovMikeHuckabee
I wanted something light and healthy for b’fst today so I ate a light bulb and washed it down w/ some Lysol. I think tomorrow I’ll do something different.
