During a briefing in which the White House pitched “emerging” research on the benefits of sunlight and humidity in diminishing the threat of the coronavirus, President Trump wondered aloud about the possibility of injecting disinfectants into patients.
Mr. Trump remarked at Thursday’s White House briefing that he’s seen that disinfectant “knocks it (COVID-19) out in a minute. And is there a way you can do something like that by injection inside or almost a cleaning? As you see, it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs — so it’ll be interesting to check that. … It sounds interesting to me.”
But William Bryan, of the Department of Homeland Security, seemed to shoot the idea down as quickly as it was mentioned, saying it wasn’t being considered.
It was also met with quick rebuke from the medical community.
John Balmes, a pulmonologist at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, stressed to Bloomberg News that, “Inhaling chlorine bleach would be absolutely the worst thing for the lungs. The airway and lungs are not made to be exposed to even an aerosol of disinfectant.”
Kashif Mahmood, a doctor in Charleston, West Virginia, said on Twitter, “As a physician, I can’t recommend injecting disinfectant into the lungs or using UV radiation inside the body to treat Covid-19. Don’t take medical advice from Trump.”
Past studies haven’t found good evidence that the warmer temperatures and higher humidity of spring and summer will help tamp down the spread of the virus.
But Bryan said there are “emerging results” from new research that suggest solar light has a powerful effect in killing the virus on surfaces and in the air. He said scientists have seen a similar effect from higher temperatures and humidity. A biocontainment lab in Maryland has been conducting testing on the virus since February, Bryan said.
“The virus is dying at a much more rapid pace just from exposure to higher temperatures and just from exposure to humidity,” Bryan said.
He said knowing more about it could help governors when making decisions about how and when to open their state economies. However, he stressed that the emerging results of the light and heat studies don’t replace social distancing recommendations.
Mr. Trump, who has consistently looked for hopeful news about containing the virus, was asked if it was dangerous to make people think they would be safe by going outside in the heat, considering that so many people have died in Florida.
“I hope people enjoy the sun. And if it has an impact, that’s great,” Mr. Trump replied, adding, “It’s just a suggestion from a brilliant lab by a very, very smart, perhaps brilliant man.”
“I’m here to present ideas, because we want ideas to get rid of this thing. And if heat is good, and if sunlight is good, that’s a great thing as far as I’m concerned,” the president said.
Mr. Trump has often talked up prospects for new therapies and offered rosy timelines for the development of a vaccine.
Earlier in the month, scientific advisers told the White House there’s no good evidence yet that the heat and humidity of summer will rein in the virus without continued public health measures.
