In response to a remark made by President Trump, officials across the country are having to warn people against ingesting cleaning products. On Friday, after receiving more than 100 calls to its hotline seeking more information about the president’s claim, the Maryland Emergency Management Agency advised residents against using disinfectant products to treat the coronavirus.

“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 agency tweeted.

The onslaught represented the most calls the state received on any single topic since the coronavirus pandemic began, said Mike Ricci, a spokesman for Gov. Larry Hogan (R).

During a Thursday briefing, the president speculated about whether disinfectants could be used to fight the virus, not just on surfaces and in the air, but in the human body.

“I see the disinfectant that knocks it out in a minute, one minute,” Trump said. “And is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside, or almost a cleaning? Because you see it gets inside the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs, so it would be interesting to check that.”

Though on Friday the president said he was being sarcastic when he made those comments, the retraction did not assuage the concerns of health officials and disinfectant companies.

After Trump’s remarks, the manufacturer of Lysol issued a statement emphasizing that “under no circumstance should our disinfectant products be administered into the human body.”

The Twitter account for the Washington state Military Department and Emergency Management division cautioned: “Please don’t eat tide pods or inject yourself with any kind of disinfectant.”