Did he say it or didn’t he say it?
The mainstream media exploded on Thursday night with reports that President Trump had just urged Americans to inject disinfectant into their bodies in an attempt to stave off COVID-19.
“Experts blast Trump’s idea of injecting disinfectant to treat coronavirus,” MSNBC reported.
“‘It’s irresponsible and it’s dangerous’: Experts warn against Trump’s idea of injecting disinfectant to treat coronavirus,” NBC News reported.
“Trump Suggests Injecting Disinfectant to Treat Coronavirus,” NYMag wrote.
“Yes, Trump Actually Suggested Injecting Disinfectants Into Your Veins Could Cure Coronavirus,” Vanity Fair wrote.
But the White House on Friday accused the media of taking Trump’s comments “out of context.”
“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,” White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said in a statement. “Leave it to the media to irresponsibly take President Trump out of context and run with negative headlines.”
During Thursday’s White House coronavirus task force briefing, Trump discussed the use of light and disinfectants in trying to break down SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19.
For the record, here’s exactly what Trump said the two times he mentioned “disinfectant” during the briefing.
At the briefing, Bill Bryan, head of the science and technology directorate at the Department of Homeland Security, discussed the findings of the federal government’s study on sunlight, humidity and temperature effect on the coronavirus, as well as disinfectants.
“We’re also testing disinfectants readily available. We’ve tested bleach, we’ve tested isopropyl alcohol on the virus, specifically in saliva or in respiratory fluids. And 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 — just spraying it on and letting it go. You rub it and it goes away even faster. We’re also looking at other disinfectants, specifically looking at the COVID-19 virus in saliva,” Bryan said.
Trump then talked about discussions he’s had with Bryan, looking at him as he did so.
“So, supposing we hit the body with a tremendous — whether it’s ultraviolet or just very powerful light — and I think you said that 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 said you’re going to test that too. It sounds interesting.”
Then Trump said this: “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.”
“Is there a way”? Trump was clearly musing about what might be worthy of examining: “it will be interesting to check that.”
Then Bryan discussed disinfectant again. “We’re continuing with that. For example, on the aerosol side, you notice the figures were 20 percent humidity. We’re looking at higher humidity levels. We would expect that would even have a greater impact on the virus. We’re looking at other types of disinfectants. And — and so we’re — this is a — as a scientific community, we’re continuing to study the virus to understand its characteristics.”
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