Trump Suggested Experts Find A Way To Inject Light Or Disinfectants Into Human Bodies To Kill The Coronavirus

The president who once stared directly into a solar eclipse is now offering researchers ideas on how to treat the coronavirus.

At his Thursday press conference, President Trump suggested that using disinfectants — which are generally harmful to the human body, or poisonous if consumed in large quantities — may help patients flush the virus from their system. Trump, who has said he has a “natural ability” for understanding public health, added that injecting heat and light under the skin may be effective in countering symptoms of a virus that has already killed around 50,000 Americans.

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“Supposing you brought the light inside of the body, which you could do either through the skin or in some other way,” Trump said during the daily White House coronavirus task force briefing. “The whole concept of the light, the way it kills it in one minute. That’s, uh, that’s pretty powerful.”

Trump made the comments after William Bryan, acting undersecretary for science and technology at the Department of Homeland Security, gave a presentation on the impacts of solar light, bleach, and isopropyl alcohol on the virus on surfaces and in the air.

“Our most striking observation to date is the powerful effect that solar light appears to have on killing the virus both surfaces and in the air,” Bryan said. “Bleach will kill the virus in five minutes. Isopropyl alcohol will kill the virus in 30 seconds. … You rub it and it goes away faster.”

As coronavirus task force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx kindly let the president know, this is not a promising treatment option.

And though Trump’s Thursday proposal seems too incoherent to cause harm, in past weeks his spurious information resulted in the death of an Arizona man who drank an additive used to clean fish tanks — chloroquine phosphate — which he mistook for hydroxychloroquine, a drug formerly touted by the president.

At Thursday’s presser, Washington Post reporter Philip Rucker called Trump out on the apparent misinformation.

“People tuning into these briefings, they want to get information and guidance and want to know what to do. They’re not looking for rumors.” Trump replied, “I’m the president and you’re fake news,” adding that his recommendations “are just a suggestion.”

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