The White House is doing cleanup duty after President Trump suggested ultraviolet light or disinfectants could be used to treat coronavirus patients.
During Thursday evening’s briefing, William Bryan, the head of science at the Department of Homeland Security, told reporters that his team has been working to see whether sunlight and disinfectants are capable of combating the virus, after which the president offered some feedback that has prompted pushback and health warnings.
After a wave of bad press, the top White House spokeswoman said the media distorted Trump’s comments.
“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,” White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said in a statement on Friday.
Bryan noted during the briefing that the half-life of the coronavirus was shorter under various heat, humidity, and light conditions. He noted that his team tested whether disinfectants could help treat the virus.
“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,” Bryan explained. “Isopropyl alcohol will kill the virus in 30 seconds, and that’s with no manipulation, no rubbing. Just bring it on and leaving it go. You rub it, and it goes away even faster.”
The president then offered his own take after fielding a question from a reporter.
“So supposing we hit the body with tremendous, I don’t know if it’s ultraviolet or very powerful light, and I think you said that hasn’t been checked, but you’re going to test it,” Trump said, turning to Bryan at the end for confirmation. “Then I said, ‘Suppose you brought the light inside of the body,’ which you could do either through the skin or in some other way, and I think you said you were going to test that too — sounds interesting.”
Trump shifted to the idea of using disinfectants as treatment, adding, “Then, I see the disinfectant — one minute. Is there a way we can do something like that, by 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’ll have to use medical doctors with. But it sounds interesting to me.”
Bryan was then asked by a reporter if someone could safely be injected with bleach or isopropyl alcohol to treat the virus, to which he said, “We don’t do that in our labs.”
Trump chimed in, “Not cleaning through injection. We’re talking about almost a cleaning, 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.”
A representative for the maker of Lysol disinfectant warned consumers not to “inject” the product after Trump floated the idea.
