Media erupt over Trump comments on disinfectant and sunlight to cure coronavirus: Here's what he said | Fox News
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Philip Rucker challenges President Trump at the daily briefing of the White House coronavirus task force.
President Trump, in his White House coronavirus task force briefing Thursday, appeared to suggest that light and disinfectants might have the potential to treat the coronavirus — prompting a numberofstories condemning the comments, others seeking to defend the president and a scathing tweet from presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.
The comments even prompted a statement from Reckitt Benckiser Group, the makers of Lysol, warning against improper use of disinfectant products.
"As a global leader in health and hygiene products, we must be clear that under no circumstance should our disinfectant products be administered into the human body (through injection, ingestion or any other route)," the company said. "As with all products, our disinfectant and hygiene products should only be used as intended and in line with usage guidelines. Please read the label and safety information."
TRUMP, OFFICIALS SUGGEST CORONAVIRUS IS WEAKENED BY SUNLIGHT AND HUMIDITY
On Friday, the White House hit back at the media's coverage, with Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany saying in a 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."
The president's comments came after administration officials presented findings of a study that suggested increased heat, light and humidity in the summer could decrease the time it takes for the coronavirus to disperse on surfaces and in the air, and potentially slow the spread of the disease during the warmer months. They also said that isopropyl alcohol and bleach were highly effective in tests at killing the virus on surfaces -- with bleach killing it in as few as five minutes and isopropyl alcohol doing so in just 30 seconds.
Trump then launched into the comments that drew the harsh backlash, including one Washington Post headline that read, "Trump asked if disinfectants could be injected to kill coronavirus inside the body. Doctors answered: 'People will die.'"
Here's what Trump said in his briefing exchanges with his administration experts and reporters.
Initial comments
After Bill Bryan, the head of the science and technology directorate at the Department of Homeland Security, presented the findings of the federal government's study on sunlight, humidity and temperature's effect on the coronavirus -- as well as various disinfectants on the virus when it is on surfaces -- Trump reacted to the comments.
"Question that probably some of you are thinking of if you're totally into that world, which I find to be very interesting. 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," Trump said, looking over to Bryan.
"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 said you're gonna test that, too. Sounds interesting, right?"
He continued: "And then I see the disinfectant where it knocks it out in a minute. One minute. And is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside or, or almost a cleaning? Because you see it gets on the lungs and it does a tremendous number, so it will be interesting to check that. So that you're going to have to use medical doctors. But it sounds, it sounds interesting to me. So we'll see.
"But the whole concept of the light, the way it kills it in one minute, that's, that's pretty powerful."
Follow-up question
After Trump's initial comments, in which he did suggest there might be a way to "do something like that by injection inside or, or almost a cleaning" after changing the topic from light to disinfectants but made clear it was not a definitive recommendation and said "medical doctors" should be involved in any tests, a reporter asked Bryan to clarify what the president said.
"The president mentioned the idea of a cleaner. Is the bleach and isopropyl alcohol he mentioned, there's no scenario that could be injected into a person, is there?" the reporter asked.
"No, I'm here to talk about the findings that we had in the study. We don't do that within that lab, at our labs," Bryan responded.
Trump then jumped in with further comments.
"We're talking about almost a latent sterilization of an area. Maybe it works, maybe it doesn't work, but it certainly has a big effect if it's on a stationary object," Trump said, not explicitly disavowing the possibility using disinfectants to treat humans, which has been roundly declared dangerous by medical experts and makers of such products.
Subsequent comments
After multiple questions on other topics, Trump then turned a query from a reporter about why places like Florida, which have higher heat and humidity than other parts of the country, are still seeing significant numbers of coronavirus cases to the topic of potentially treating people.
"I mean, there's been a rumor that, you know, a very nice rumor that you go outside in the sun or you have heat and it does have an effect on other viruses," Trump said referencing previous speculation that factors like heat, light and humidity in the summer could lead to a decrease -- though not an entire stoppage -- in coronavirus cases.
President Donald Trump listens as Bill Bryan, head of science and technology at the Department of Homeland Security, speaks about the coronavirus in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House, Thursday, April 23, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
CDC CHIEF CONTRADICTS TRUMP ON MISQUOTING CHARGE OVER VIRUS REBOUND
"But now we get it from one of the great laboratories of the world. I have to say, it covers a lot more territory than just this. This is, this is probably an easy thing, relatively speaking, for you," Trump said, looking off to his right toward some of his administration's experts who were at the briefing.
"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. You know, if you could and maybe you can, maybe you can't. Again, I say maybe you can. Maybe you can't. I'm not a doctor. I'm like a person that has a good you know what," Trump said, pointing toward his head then looking over to Dr. Deborah Birx. "You ever, have you ever heard of that? The heat and the light relative to certain viruses? Yes, but relative to this virus?"
"Not as a treatment," Birx responded from off to the side, appearing to choose her words carefully. "I mean certainly fever is a good thing when you a fever it helps your body respond. But not as, I've not seen heat or light."
"I think it's a great thing to look at. I mean, you know," Trump responded.
Trump defends himself
Immediately after the exchange with Birx, which did not include talk about hazardous treatments using disinfectants, a reporter challenged Trump on his speculation about potential coronavirus cures.
"Respectfully sir, you're the president and people tuning into these briefings they want to get information and guidance and want to know what to do. They're not looking for rumors," the reporter said.
Trump responded combatively.
Video
TRUMP LASHES OUT AT WASHINGTON POST'S PHILIP RUCKER AT BRIEFING: 'TOTAL FAKER'
"I'm the president and you are fake news. And you know what I'll say to you? I'll say it very nicely," Trump said. "You ready? It's just a suggestion from a brilliant lab by a very, very smart, perhaps brilliant man. He's talking about sun. He's talking about heat. And you see the numbers. So that's it. That's all I have. I'm just here to present talent. I'm here to present ideas because we want ideas to get rid of this thing. And if he does good and if sunlight is good, that's a great thing as far as I'm concerned."
Trump, in his response, appeared to take Bryan's findings, which did not mention using light as a treatment for humans but rather a factor that could mitigate the coronavirus' spread over the summer, out of context to support his suggestion that light could be used to fight the coronavirus in infected individuals. The exchange between Trump and the reporter, like Trump's exchange with Birx, did not mention hazardous cleaning products as a prospective treatment as Trump did earlier in the briefing.
Light to fight the coronavirus' spread?
Ultraviolet light can harm cells, which is why more sunlight over the summer could presumably help slow the spread of the coronavirus. But it harms human cells as well, meaning the intentional use of man-made ultraviolet light is not considered a serious option for treating the coronavirus.
But a certain type of it could be used, according to one Columbia University researcher, in public buildings to kill the virus before it infects people in the first place. David Brenner, the director of Columbia's Center for Radiological Research said in a story released on the university's website that "far-UVC," a kind of ultraviolet light that is not harmful to humans, could be used to kill "airborne viruses minutes after they've been breathed, coughed or sneezed into the air."
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"Far-UVC light has the potential to be a 'game changer,'" Brenner said, according to the story. "It can be safely used in occupied public spaces, and it kills pathogens in the air before we can breathe them in."
Brenner said that he has used that type of light to eradicate other viruses before and is currently testing it on the novel coronavirus. He noted, however, that the light is not a treatment for sick people as Trump suggested, but instead a way to prevent people from getting sick in the first place.
"Far-UVC takes a fundamentally different tactic in the war against COVID-19," he said. "Most approaches focus on fighting the virus once it has gotten into the body. Far-UVC is one of the very few approaches that has the potential to prevent the spread of viruses before they enter the body."
Tyler Olson covers politics for FoxNews.com. You can contact him at tyler.olson@foxnews.com and follow him on Twitter at @TylerOlson1791.
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And from that the TDS sufferers get that President Trump said to inject people with bleach.
I'm sure they are the same one trying to travel to 57 states. Hillaryious
I guess him asking if we could inject people with 'something' to clean them out means drinking bleach in the simple minded.
Yeah, a similar "construction" of Obama's 57 states comment would be to claim Obama was calling for the invasion of Canada when he talked about the 57 states.
There is a such lung wash procedure. I am pretty positive he was talking about that and NOT injecting Lysol or bleach into anyone's veins or anywhere else. But I guess if someone spends their days picking apart statements, their mileage may vary. *shrugs*
Yeah I'm sure that's what the moron in chief was referring to!
Sarcasm off
Lung washing (lung lavage procedure) is used to remove excess surfactant in people suffering from pulmonary alveolar protenosis (PAP). It is not meant for treating other types of lung diseases or covid.
Watch starting at 19 minutes then give your opinion on the lung wash
Yes, the president of the United States is actually asking medical professionals to look into the possibility that injecting disinfectant chemicals into the human body may work against the current virus.
Use the entire quote [Deleted]
[deleted]
Bingo! You got that exactly right!
You forgot to give the TDS sufferers something new to cry about.
[deleted]
your typical medical student from michigan participating in the latest clinical trial...
I don't know about the Michigan med student portion of this illustration, but the rest is so funny. I am on my second day laughing on the floor at this one!
Best belly laugh with watery eyes ever in the age of COVID-19!!!
6. It was Obama's fault. (oh wait, he already said that)
Blame "Bush" was all the rage !
What's changed ?
Lysol was invented in the late 19th century. Does anyone know how many people since then have ingested it because the media falsely told them POTUS said they should? Asking for a friend.
Your "friend" is a fucking idiot. This is the first president to suggest injecting or ingesting known toxic chemicals as a treatment for a virus, dumb fuck stands alone.
About the same number of people that have taken aquarium cleaner to fight Coronavirus.
Well, are least you are finally admitting that Trump's incoherent ignorant knowledge-free stupid dumbass babblings are mostly incomprehensible...
Case in point right there. Who said that? TDS is real.
JBB is right and you are wrong.
Who said that? Trump did! It is Trump's latest excuse...
[deleted]
I have to say he certainly confused me, so I would not be surprised that many people would interpret what he said in many different ways, perhaps some even to the extent of injecting or even drinking a disinfectant. If the makers of Lysol realized that people could interpret what he said to mean that, then it sure as hell was possible.
Emphatically. Communication 101 is to be clear. If the receiver does not hear the message properly (as intended), then the sender has failed in the delivery.
What is important above all for a speaker is to be heard clearly . So let me be clear.
1. First 'round,' Trump did venture to ask if SOME KIND of disinfectant protocol could be internally developed based on the work done by Dr. Bryan's presentation on disinfectant products which can kill the virus in shorti mte.
2. Second 'round,' Trump did self-correct himself in part when Dr. Bryan denied that an internal disinfection protocol is NOT a part of his department's work/study/models. In the talkover part of the discussion between Bryan/Press, Trump can be heard to say, "It would not be through an injection, we're talking about a cleaning or sterilization of the area. Maybe it works-maybe it does not work. . . . . " Here is the CSPAN link to just that section of the briefing:
What is clear is in correcting the injection question (it was talked over), the president still left over his intention of disinfectant use (product types presented in Dr. Bryan's presentation) inside the body for cleaning or sterilization of the area.
3. Final 'round,' Trump compounded the confusion by outright lying the following day by stating he was being sarcastic. In the case of being misquoted by the Press you issue a clarifying statement. You do not claim that you were being deliberately contemptuous with your audience. That is, the Press heard what you meant to be a contemptuous and mocking reply correctly .
Oh, the 'toil' of typing before this one has a stirring cup of coffee! Here is the 'missing link' from above. I had it there. I really did! Somehow it defeated me to get out of the comment- why, I may never remember!
Since there is literally nothing in the seeded article that makes Trump look better, one has to wonder why it was seeded. To bamboozle?
By the way, Trump announced today that he was being "sarcastic" when he made the comments in question yesterday.
By saying that he was being sarcastic he KNEW that he had misled the public.
Exactly. He knew what he was saying and it wasn't said as a joke or anything other than his promoting it as a fact.
He only claims sarcasm or making a joke when he gets called out for saying stupid things or in this case potentially life threatening things.
BECAUSE THAT WAS AN INCREDIBLY STUPID THING TO SAY IN ANY SITUATION.
Donald Trump is pushing the experts to the bleeding edge of research. And the only answer the experts can provide is "I don't know'. Experts don't like to admit what they don't know.
Tap water contains a disinfectant very, very similar to household bleach. And medical experts certainly defend chlorination of water as a public health necessity. Hundreds of millions of people consume bleach every day.
People consume millions of gallons of ethanol alcohol everyday. And ethanol and other alcohols are powerful disinfectants used for sanitizing surfaces; including sanitizing hands.
Mouth wash contains potent disinfectants intended to disrupt biofilms and kill germs in the mouth. Mouth wash is a surface disinfectant that is used by millions of people.
Ingestion of disinfectants is part of our everyday lifestyle.
People become infected with SARS-CoV-2 by inhaling the virus. And the virus collects on surfaces in the respiratory tract, particularly in nasal passages. That's why people wear N95 face masks. That's why testing for the virus uses a nasal swab.
Is it possible to disinfect the respiratory tract? Would gargling and nasal irrigation (as internal surface disinfection) provide a medical benefit? These are simple methods that could be performed at home with inexpensive materials; gargling and nasal irrigation doesn't require medical supervision. The only answer the medical experts can provide is "I don't know." Experts don't like to admit they don't know.
The "Experts" have been saying that since this started. They still do.
Myself..... I love it when "Persons" are pushed to do better.....especially when they are called …… "Experts" !
the problem being that the virus attacks the progenitor lung cells, once attached the virus takes over the cells repair and replicating machines to manufacture new virus cells until
A; the cell dies or
B; there are so many virus units that the cell bursts spreading the virus into the air in the lung
to be expelled to the atmosphere to find more hosts.
The would normally be the end of things except that this particular virus can enter the blood stream
can attack the kidneys
can attack heart tissue
So while some crazy therapies have been bounced off the walls at the daily WH pressers,
there is no one "disinfectant" treatment or light therapy that can treat the whole person.
You can cleanse the blood but not the tissue and the process might be slowed,
but in the end, without a vaccine only the "strongest" immune systems will survive.
Actually experts and in this case medical professionals recognize that a press forum for the expressed delivery of factual developments, is not the proper setting for hypotheticals, speculations, and feeling out a thought from the podium. It is "Just the facts" moment. Because the citizenry, the world even, may be listening for some 'edge' to pursue in getting above and beyond their present conduct/activity/policy. Trusting the White House to understand the gravity of the moment!
This is why Dr. Bryan would not commit to research not done, or eve considered, by this department. He would not confirm or deny the president's wandering remark. He simply stared back blinking. . . . And surrendered the podium.
I'm voting-up many of these defensive seeds posted by rump supporters, as they actually cast a light on how stupid he is.
Well done!
Defensive seeds , I love it.
The true meaning of TDS, Trump Defensive Seeds & Trump Defensive Seeders.
What is a rump supporter? it has been years since I have had a 5 year old in the house, I'm not familiar with child speak.
Is it like a jock strap for your ass? Inquiring minds want to know.
Definition of rumper
1
usually capitalized : a member or supporter of the Rump Parliament
2
[rump entry 1 + -er] : a slaughterhouse worker who removes the hide from the tail bone, rump, and hind legs
Well I'm not a member or supporter of the Rump Parliament and I have never worked in a slaughterhouse.
What is TDS? I looked in the DSM V and it's not in there.
See how that works?
I know it's an acronym but the condition is made up. Hence why it is not in the DSM. Just like T rump is made up.
So is T Rump.
And during the surge of Tea partiers, the term Teabagger was a euphemism. My conservatives made a stink and we disallowed it. Is that where you want to go?
Who used T rump?
Now don't be coy.
It is not my "show". The group votes on these matters. That is what happened last time. If it was my show, I would just take action.
I think we should stop the meta on KD's article.
I have asked , by now numerous people on Newstalkers ,to explain to me how TDS is real when Bernie Madoff Derangement Syndrome is not real and Harvey Weinstein Derangement Syndrome is not real.
No one has answered me yet.
It isnt possible to be be unreasonably concerned about Trump any more than it would be possible to be unreasonably concerned about Madoff , Weinstein, or any other malignant personality celebrity.
You have been responded to many times, but just refuse to listen.
TDS afflicts those that cannot get over Hillary had her ass handed to her in 2016, that liberals cannot say "madame president", and that they know Trump will be re elected, probably with record numbers this year.
Another big indicator of TDS afflicted is when someone incessantly seeds "I hate Trump" seeds day in and day out without proof of any accusations.
You sound like an 8 year old.
I have NEVER ,and I mean never, posted an article or made a comment complaining that Hillary Clinton did not win.
If Trump beat Jesus Christ I would have the same opinion of Trump. I was against Trump even before Hillary Clinton announced she was running for president.
As I told you, his birtherism disqualified him from high office.
Perrie, how long are we going to have to listen to this nonsense every day?
Never said you did.
Nowhere did I mention you or anyone else in particular in my post. Your 11.1.7 asked a specific question, I answered it accordingly.
Guilty conscious?
You spell like Trump.
Its guilty conscience
Awwww. look. Another liberal ploy. Spelling nazi when you have nothing else.
So I will do it again....the question from my post about TDS afflicted
Guilty conscience?
Now you may answer but you won't
Answering some of you guys is like being in a kindergarten playground.
Dammit I didn't catch that. Great job Fish...
Now that he has done the same to me, you better believe I will.
I'm easily handling him on another thread also and he is trying to enlist the help of others to gang up on me.
This might be fun.
Thank you Fish for putting the site above in the spotlight. It is hilarious and so right on in every way.
I leave the apostrophes out to save effort.
So I left the e out to save effort.
Now you have to believe me.
This is yet another indication of Trump being epically unqualified. The last one was hydroxychloroquine. Trump sees the Carlson interview of an ‘expert’ who touts the drug as a 100% cure for COVID-19. The next day, and pretty much continuously thereafter, Trump & Fox News go on about this drug. People here post nonsense apologetics for Trump's babbling wrt hydroxychloroquine, then real drug trial tests become available and both Trump and Fox News drop it cold.
This time, Trump hears Dr. Bryan’s comments on disinfecting surfaces and, being a child, babbles about disinfecting people. He talks about how quickly disinfectants work, and in the next sentence, talks about injecting people with something like that. Apologists here start making semantic arguments pointing out that he didn’t actually say to inject disinfectants, because that’s how people listening critically dissect everything they hear!!!
People need to accept the fact that this president is an idiot. That the Corona Virus briefings are not the place for his random musings. People want to hear a competent leader talking facts, not a child blaming anyone he can think of, complaining about his political enemies, and congratulating himself for the great job he’s doing in his head. It would also be nice if he would express empathy for those suffering.
This president is epically unqualified intellectually, temperamentally, morally, and psychologically. He demonstrates this more than daily, and pointing this out is not deranged, and it’s not because Hillary lost. We are watching an infantile ignoramus handle the pandemic worse that *any* other country in the world when we are the richest, most powerful, most educated country with the best medical people.