Donald Trump has claimed his musings about using disinfectant to treat the novel coronavirus were "sarcastic," but some state and local health authorities say they are seeing an uptick in poisonings and warn the effects can be deadly.
This report produced by Zachary Goelman.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) MARYLAND GOVERNOR LARRY HOGAN SAYING: "We had hundreds of calls in our hotline here in Maryland about people asking about injecting or ingesting these- these disinfectants." The governor of Maryland on Sunday said that his state's coronavirus hotline received a surge of calls from residents asking whether or not they could use cleaning products to treat symptoms of COVID-19.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) MARYLAND GOVERNOR LARRY HOGAN SAYING: "But what people actually were thinking about this, was this something you could do to protect yourself?" Doctors have been stridently warning against using products such as Lysol to treat the illness since U.S. President Donald Trump last week mused aloud as to whether or not disinfectant could be injected into patients to eradicate the novel coronavirus.
(SOUBDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, SAYING: "And then I see the disinfectant knocks it out in a minute, in one minute, and is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside, or almost a cleaning." [FLASH] (SOUNDBITE) (English) NEW JERSEY HEALTH COMMISSIONER JUDY PERSICHILLI SAYING: "And certainly, they should never be ingested or injected" Officials, such as New Jersey Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli, quickly warned the public that ingesting or injecting disinfectant is a terrible and potentially fatal idea.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) NEW YORK CITY MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO, SAYING (FRIDAY): "If that's been suggested to people, they need to hear the truth from a doctor, not from someone who doesn't really seem to care about science at all." Democrats, from New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused the president of ignoring basic science in the midst of a health crisis.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) HOUSE DEMOCRATIC LEADER NANCY PELOSI, SAYING (FRIDAY): "Lets see: we can kill the virus by injecting disinfectants like Lysol in to the body.
Clearly and sadly, this president is not listening to medical experts.
I don't know which ones he listening to, if any." (SOUNDBITE)(English) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, SAYING: (SATURDAY) "No I was asking the question sarcastically to reporters like you just to see what would happen." The day after he made the suggested, Trump said his comments were sarcastic.
National Public Radio over the weekend reported New York City saw an uptick in calls to the city's poison control center over exposure to Lysol, bleach, and other household cleaners after the president's comments.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) FORMER FDA COMMISSIONER SCOTT GOTTLIEB, SAYING: "These are deadly agents." Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, a medical doctor, told CBS News on Sunday that these chemicals should never be ingested or injected.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) FORMER FDA COMMISSIONER SCOTT GOTTLIEB, SAYING: "And so we need to be very clear about this, that nobody should be consuming a disinfectant.
And they don't work for the treatment of anything, let alone coronavirus."
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