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United States Politics Science

Trump Muses About Light as Remedy, but Also Disinfectant, Which Is Dangerous (nytimes.com) 670

President Trump has long pinned his hopes on the powers of sunlight to defeat the Covid-19 virus. He returned to that theme at the White House coronavirus briefing on Thursday, bringing in a science administrator to back up his assertions and eagerly theorizing about treatments involving the use of household disinfectant that would be dangerous if put inside the body, as well as the power of sunlight and ultraviolet light. From a report: After the administrator, William N. Bryan, the head of science at the Department of Homeland Security, told the briefing that the agency had tested how sunlight and disinfectants -- including bleach and alcohol -- can kill the coronavirus on surfaces in as little as 30 seconds, an excited Mr. Trump returned to the lectern. "Supposing we hit the body with a tremendous -- whether it's ultraviolet or just very powerful light," Mr. Trump said. "And I think you said that hasn't been checked, but we're going to test it?" he added, turning to Mr. Bryan, who had returned to his seat. "And then I said, supposing you brought the light inside the body, either through the skin or some other way."

Apparently reassured that the tests he was proposing would take place, Mr. Trump then theorized about the possible medical benefits of disinfectants in the fight against the virus. "And then I see the disinfectant where it knocks it out in a minute -- one minute -- and is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside, or almost a cleaning?" he asked. "Because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs, so it would be interesting to check that." Experts have long warned that ultraviolet lamps can harm humans if used improperly -- when the exposure is outside the body, much less inside. The link between ultraviolet light and skin cancer is well established. Bleach and other disinfectants may kill microbes but they also can kill humans if swallowed or if fumes are too powerful. That is why bottles of bleach and other disinfectants carry sharp warnings of ingestion dangers.

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Trump Muses About Light as Remedy, but Also Disinfectant, Which Is Dangerous

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  • by Harold Halloway ( 1047486 ) on Friday April 24, 2020 @11:18AM (#59984590)

    Please does as your Glorious Leader commands and inject yourself with disinfectant.

    • by bobby ( 109046 ) on Friday April 24, 2020 @11:22AM (#59984632)

      So far I'm free of the virus, so I'll continue eating Tide Pods. /s

  • I applaud Trump's hard work toward ensuring future generations of Americans are more rational.
  • Does anyone know what the lifespan of the COVID19 virus is in direct sunlight? I read in one article that it was around 30 seconds, but it was mentioned in passing, and I'd be curious to see some scientifically backed literature on the subject.

    Specifically, I'm curious how much simply being outdoors affects the spread of the Coronavirus. Perhaps sunlight isn't powerful enough to kill the virus immediately after a sneeze but I would imagine it would quickly disinfect outdoor picnic tables and other surfaces.

    • UV is pretty good at killing viruses on clean, hard, non-porous surfaces. A park bench made of porous wood and perhaps left sticky by neighborhood kids eating popsicles is not going to be a great surface for UV decontamination, but it also isn't likely to end up super contaminated. I haven't seen any data about surface vectors for COVID infection but if it is outside and metal it should be safe so long as you're not actively licking it. You can think of it by considering whether there are microscopic sou
  • Some have stated that Trump later in the press conference clarifies what he means. The now infamous speak starts at 24:24 and ends at 27:20 https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com] he returns later, but listening to him for another hour is a bit more than I can take atm, so I'd be grateful if anyone who knows could direct me to where in the video this happens.

  • by Jedi Holocron ( 225191 ) on Friday April 24, 2020 @11:26AM (#59984664) Homepage Journal

    last time i saw this done, a bunch of nazi's were melting while staring into a gold box on a remote island

  • by krotscheck ( 132706 ) on Friday April 24, 2020 @11:45AM (#59984838) Homepage

    I'm not a doctor, and this is my opinion only, but if the president is your primary, trusted source of scientific information regarding Covid-19, I strongly, VERY strongly, encourage you to take his advice without delay.

  • Injecting yourself with Lysol is the only way to inoculate yourself against the 5G waves that cause COVID19. This information was on Hilary's server which is the real reason it got sent to Ukraine.

  • by CaptainDork ( 3678879 ) on Friday April 24, 2020 @12:39PM (#59985228)

    ... that could help.

    I was sick back in November from something that was not flu or strep throat.

    My doc gave me a steroid shot in one butt cheek and a blockbuster of antibiotics in the other.

    Then she wrote a prescription for antibiotics and cough medicine with codeine.

    It worked very well.

    Why don't we get the doctors to look at coating our bodies with cough syrup, I'm sure there are some very nice ones, you know, the cough medicines, not the doctors, though I suppose some of them are very nice, I don't know because I'm not a doctor but then we can load up a flashlight with steroid gel between the batteries and form a laser, lasers work very well on the eyes, don't they, Dr. Birx, and the steroid laser would, you know, I have a fever for more cowbell, and antibiotics, why we could soak our feet in a bucket of that, has anyone looked into that, Dr. Birx, and we could shine ultraviolet light into the bucket, no, I have a better idea, let's call Starkist and feed mayonnaise to the tuna, and instead of ultraviolet light, let's get aggressive and try ultraviolent light, maybe energetic photons packed together approaching the virus with these little whips and of course we'd need tiny hands ....

  • blame (Score:4, Funny)

    by bugs2squash ( 1132591 ) on Friday April 24, 2020 @12:58PM (#59985368)

    I blame the medical research community. They are obviously running a competition to see what is the most assenine thing they can get the president to say on live TV. Maybe some kind of bingo or drinking game is involved.

    Every time the president says "you're going to test that right", a scientist in a lab somewhere has to drink 2 fingers of tequila

  • Then put the suggestion where it belongs, in a forum appropriate to it that is subject to scientific review.

    There's a reason why real scientists don't go around publicly announcing every brainstorm idea they might have before they've gone through the rigor of testing it.

    I'm going to give Trump the benefit of the doubt here and assuming that the man is only trying to help, but for god's sake, the man needs to SHUT THE BLOODY FUCK UP!

    If he wants to offer suggestions to doctors and scientists that he believes might work, he should be by all rights be welcome to do that, but for crying out loud, that needs to happen behind closed doors, and *DEFINITELY* not in front of a live camera feed.

  • by Quila ( 201335 ) on Friday April 24, 2020 @02:13PM (#59985790)

    That is why bottles of bleach and other disinfectants carry sharp warnings of ingestion dangers.

    You should see the list of warnings on prescription drugs.

  • Right?

    I mean, how can you condemn a guy for making a preposterous suggestion that could be lethal if taken seriously when he had only been joking the whole time? And as for the fact that some people who were watching might not be clued in enough to realize that he was joking, how is that the president's fault?

    Right?

    Right?

    &facepalm;

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