Trump Floats Injecting Disinfectant Into Human Body As Possible Coronavirus Treatment, Pivots To Asking If Bright Light Can Be Brought Inside Patient

WASHINGTON. President Donald J. Trump, appearing at his daily White House coronavirus briefing Thursday alongside scientists, public health officials, and a visibly tense Coronavirus Response Coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx, suggested aloud that medical researchers investigate whether household disinfectant might be safely administered "by injection inside" American patients as a treatment for the rapidly spreading virus.

Speaking from the lectern of the White House briefing room, the President observed that disinfectant "knocks it out in a minute," and asked whether scientists could look into "doing something like that, by injection inside, or almost a cleaning." Following a pause that medical correspondents would later describe as the longest in modern broadcasting, the President pivoted to asking whether ultraviolet light might also be brought "inside the body, either through the skin or some other way," gesturing into his own torso for clarity.

Within hours, the manufacturer of Lysol issued a public statement begging Americans not to ingest, inject, or otherwise introduce any of its products into their bodies. Calls to poison control centers spiked across multiple states overnight. The maker of Clorox, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the surgeons general of three states, and at least one professional society of emergency physicians each released advisories clarifying, on the public record, that household disinfectants are not to be consumed by humans under any circumstances.

A White House official, speaking on background, explained that the President had merely been "asking questions," a position the President himself contradicted the following day by stating his remarks had been sarcastic, before televised briefings were quietly scaled back. Officials within the administration said the episode had been "no more notable" than several other recent suggestions, noting that the President had, in the same week, also recommended hydroxychloroquine, an antimalarial drug whose effectiveness against the virus had not been demonstrated in any controlled trial.

By the close of the news cycle, public health experts, hospital administrators, and members of the President's own Coronavirus Task Force had collectively spent more time disputing the President's medical advice than the President had spent giving it. The Centers for Disease Control later confirmed an uptick in inquiries about the home use of bleach as both surface treatment and personal regimen.

At press time, the Lysol manufacturer was preparing a second, more emphatic statement.