Governors are urging U.S. President Donald Trump to keep his daily coronavirus briefing “fact-based” following his controversial comments made last week musing whether injecting disinfectants into the body could cure COVID-19.
Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, a Republican, told CBS Face The Nation: “the president’s got to focus on the message, stick to a message and make sure that these press conferences are fact-based.”
“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,” said Hogan.
“And unfortunately, some of the messaging has not been great.”
He also told ABC’s This Week: “And I think when misinformation comes out or you just say something that pops in your head, it does send a wrong message,”
“We had hundreds of calls come into our emergency hotline at our health department asking if it was — if it was right to ingest Clorox or alcohol cleaning products, whether that was going to help them fight the virus. So, we had to put out that warning to make sure that people were not doing something like that which would kill people actually to do it.”
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, told ABC’s This Week: “when the person with most powerful position on the planet is encouraging people to think about disinfectants, whether it was serious or not, people listen.”
“We have seen an increase in numbers of people calling poison control and so I think it’s really important that everyone us with a platform disseminate medically accurate information,” Whitmer added.
“And I want to say, unequivocally no one should be using disinfectant — to digest it to fight COVID-19. Please don’t do it. Just don’t do it.”
On Thursday, Trump drew widespread criticism for suggesting light, heat, and injecting disinfectants could be used to treat coronavirus patients. Doctors described such suggestions as dangerous and irresponsible, while state and local government agencies as well as disinfectant manufacturers warned the products should not be ingested or injected.
The U.S. president tried walking back the comments earlier Friday, saying his suggestions had been “sarcastic” and misinterpreted by the media.
His remarks followed a presentation made by Bill Bryan, who heads the Department of Homeland Security’s science and technology division, on research his team has conducted that says that the virus doesn’t live as long in warmer and more humid temperatures.
Bryan said: “The virus dies quickest in sunlight,” leaving the U.S. president to wonder whether you could bring the light “inside the body.”
“So supposing we hit the body with a tremendous — whether it’s ultraviolet or just a very powerful light — and I think you said that hasn’t been checked because of the testing,” Trump added, speaking to Bryan during the briefing.
“And then I said, supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or some other way, and I think you said you’re going to test that, too.”
