https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...gine-why-disinfectant-coronavirus/3037761001/
'Can't imagine why': Donald Trump denies responsibility for disinfectant confusion after some states report increased calls
Savannah Behrmann
USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said he takes no responsibility for a spike in cases of people misusing disinfectants after he wondered aloud last week about possibly injecting them as a treatment for coronavirus.
When asked Monday about the increase of people in some states ingesting disinfectants Trump answered: "I can't imagine why."
When pressed about whether he takes any responsibility, Trump said, "No, I don't."
Maryland was one state that issued a warning against dangerous disinfectant use, with the Maryland Emergency Management Agency tweeting the agency had received "several calls."
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"This is a reminder that under no circumstances should any disinfectant product be administered into the body through injection, ingestion or any other route," the tweet said.
Maryland's governor Larry Hogan, a Republican and chairman of the National Governors Association, said on ABC News' "This Week" that from the beginning of the outbreak, it's been important that officials communicate "very clearly on the facts because people listen to these press conferences."
"They listen when the governor holds a press conference, and they certainly pay attention when the President of the United States is standing there giving a press conference about something as serious as this worldwide pandemic," Hogan said. "And I think when misinformation comes out or you just say something that pops in your head, it does send a wrong message."
Also on "This Week", Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, also expressed concern.
“When the person with the most powerful position on the planet is encouraging people to think about disinfectants, whether it was serious or not, people listen,” Whitmer said. “And so we have seen an increase in numbers of people calling poison control, and so I think it’s really important that every one of us with a platform disseminate medically accurate information.”
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On the day following Trump's speculation about disinfectants, New York City said its poison control center received a higher-than-usual number of calls "specifically about exposure to Lysol, 10 cases specifically about bleach and 11 cases about exposures to other household cleaners."
Trump's comments came after Bill Bryan, an undersecretary of science and technology at the Department of Homeland Security, had been discussing a new federal study that touted sunlight and household disinfectants as being effective in killing the novel coronavirus on surfaces or in the air.
"And then I saw the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in one minute, and is there a way we could do something like that by injection inside or almost a cleaning," Trump said during a White House press briefing.
Along with some states that issued warnings, Lysol also warned people not to inject or ingest its products as a coronavirus treatment, issuing a statement on its website Friday titled "Improper Use of Disinfectants."
Additionally, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention issued a reminder about consuming disinfectants, and tweeted, “Household cleaners and disinfectants can cause health problems when not used properly. Follow the instructions on the product label to ensure safe and effective use. Learn more about cleaning and disinfecting your home.”
On Friday, Trump told reporters he was "asking a question sarcastically to reporters like you just to see what would happen."
Contributing: William Cummings, Dalvin Brown, Ryan W. Miller and Joel Shannon USA TODAY.
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/27/politics/donald-trump-disinfectants-coronavirus/index.html
Trump said he takes no responsibility for any spike in people using disinfectants improperly
By Nikki Carvajal and Maegan Vazquez, CNN
Updated 0240 GMT (1040 HKT) April 28, 2020
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Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump said Monday that he takes no responsibility for any spike in people using disinfectants improperly after dangerously suggesting last week that ingesting it could serve as a coronavirus treatment.
Asked about the increase during a White House news conference, Trump said: "I can't imagine why."
When asked if he takes any responsibility for the spike, Trump answered: "No, I don't."
Last week, Trump incorrectly suggested during a White House coronavirus briefing that ingesting disinfectants or taking in sunlight could possibly be used to treat coronavirus patients.
A Department of Homeland Security official was discussing experiments where disinfectants like bleach and isopropyl alcohol quickly killed the virus on nonporous surfaces. Trump then mused about whether disinfectants could be used to treat the virus in humans -- asking whether there is "a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning."
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It prompted cleaning product companies and state health officials to issue warnings about the dangers of their ingestion. A day after Trump's statement, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a reminder on using household disinfectants properly.
Trump later falsely claimed that he was being sarcastic and that he was prompting officials to look into the effect of disinfectant on hands -- not through ingestion or injection.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, said Sunday his state fielded hundreds of calls from people across his state asking whether injecting or ingesting disinfectants was an effective way to combat coronavirus.
"I think it is critical that the President of the United States, when people are really scared and in the middle of this worldwide pandemic, that in these press conferences, that we really get the facts out there," Hogan told Margaret Brennan on CBS' "Face the Nation."
Illinois has also said they experienced a significant increase in calls to poison control following the President's statement. Illinois Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said the calls have included someone using a detergent based solution for a sinus rinse and another person gargling with a bleach and mouthwash mixture to kill germs.
CNN's Devan Cole contributed to this report.
CLARIFICATION: This story and headline have been updated to reflect Trump doesn't take responsibility for any potential improper use of disinfectants.
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https://www.masslive.com/coronaviru...ent-donald-trump-takes-no-responsibility.html
- Calls to poison centers on disinfectant spike amid coronavirus: President Donald Trump takes no responsibility
Updated 10:09 PM; Today 9:55 PM
President Donald Trump speaks before signing a coronavirus aid package to direct funds to small businesses, hospitals, and testing, in the Oval Office of the White House, Friday, April 24, 2020, in Washington. Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., left, and Jovita Carranza, administrator of the Small Business Administration look on. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)AP
By Benjamin Kail | [email protected]
At Monday’s COVID-19 news conference, President Donald Trump said he takes no responsibility for a spike in calls to poison centers across the country following his public pondering last week whether disinfectants — which are harmful if ingested — could be injected as a treatment for the virus.
Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan say their states received an uptick in calls from residents with inquiries about disinfectant following Trump’s remarks, which sparked widespread concern and quick warnings from several doctors, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Lysol, which made clear that “under no circumstance should our disinfectant products be administered into the human body.”
Public health officials in New York and Illinois also reported increased calls to emergency hotlines and poison control centers, according to The Hill.
“I can’t imagine why,” Trump said when asked during Monday evening’s news conference about the ramped up calls. When pressed on whether he took any responsibility, he said, “No, I don’t. I can’t imagine that," before moving on to the next question from another reporter.
On Thursday, after a presentation by William Bryan, the Department of Homeland Security undersecretary for science and technology, Trump commented that “disinfectant ... knocks it out in a minute. 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’re going to have to use medical doctors with. But it sounds interesting to me.”
Similar to when he inquired whether “very powerful light” could serve as a treatment “inside the body,” the president had turned in the direction of public health officials when discussing disinfectant on Thursday.
But the next day, the president claimed he had posed the question sarcastically to reporters. Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus task force coordinator, told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday that Trump had been “musing” and airing out a question to public health officials not long after digesting the presentation before the briefing.
Hogan, in a CBS interview Sunday, said that his state had been inundated with “hundreds of calls” asking about the ingestion of disinfectants to treat COVID-19, CNN reported.
“Hard to imagine that people thought that that was serious," he said. “But what people actually were thinking about was, was this something you could do to protect yourself?”
Hogan added that it’s “always critically important ... for a leader to put out the facts and to be as open and honest and transparent as possible. And I think it’s critical that the president of the United States, when people are really scared and in the middle of this worldwide pandemic, that in these press conferences that we really get the facts out there. And unfortunately, some of the messaging has not been great.”
Within 18 hours of Trump’s comments Thursday, the poison control center in New York City received double the number of calls it usually receives regarding exposure to household cleaners including Lysol and bleach, NPR reported.
Dr. Ngozi Ezike, director of the Illinois Public Department of Health, cautioned residents not to ingest cleaning chemicals to treat COVID-19, NBC Chicago reported. “There has been a significant increase in calls to the Illinois Poison Control Center in association with exposure to cleaning agents" after Thursday, she said, noting one person attempted to gargle a mouthwash-bleach mix.
“Injecting, ingesting or snorting household cleaners is dangerous," Ezike said. “It is not advised, and it can be deadly.”
TIME Magazine reported last week that calls to poison centers were already on the rise this year, with many Americans stocking up on cleaners and using them more often because they’re effective in killing the virus on surfaces.
But the spikes seen between January and March, compared to the same period last year, were in accidental exposure, TIME reported. More than a third of the instances involved children aged 5 or younger.
CNN reported that Sen. Bill Cassidy, a doctor, said people would not treat themselves for COVID-19 by injecting disinfectants.
“When I hear this kind of conversation around that, I think to myself, we should be talking about how do we use data to guide where we can reopen the economy, not about what the President said on Lysol, because really, no one is going to inject themselves with Lysol," Cassidy said.
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