President Donald Trump on Saturday retweeted a post from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that warns Americans about the dangers of the improper use of disinfectants and household cleaners.
The move came two days after Trump was hammered by the mainstream media for allegedly suggesting the use of disinfectants to stave off the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.
“Household cleaners and disinfectants can cause health problems when not used properly,” the CDC wrote in the post, which included a link to the agency’s general guidelines for using sanitizing and cleaning products. “Follow the instructions on the product label to ensure safe and effective use.”
Household cleaners and disinfectants can cause health problems when not used properly. Follow the instructions on the product label to ensure safe and effective use. Learn more about cleaning and disinfecting your home: https://t.co/PW0UbW8KeE. pic.twitter.com/rdcR9QJNIR
— CDC (@CDCgov) April 24, 2020
At the White House Coronavirus Task Force briefing on Thursday, Bill Bryan, head of the science and technology directorate at the Department of Homeland Security, discussed the findings of the federal government’s study on how sunlight, humidity, and temperature effect on the coronavirus, as well as disinfectants.
“We’re also testing disinfectants readily available. We’ve tested bleach, we’ve tested isopropyl alcohol on the virus, specifically in saliva or in respiratory fluids. And I can tell you that bleach will kill the virus in five minutes; isopropyl alcohol will kill the virus in 30 seconds, and that’s with no manipulation, no rubbing — just spraying it on and letting it go. You rub it and it goes away even faster. We’re also looking at other disinfectants, specifically looking at the COVID-19 virus in saliva,” Bryan said.
Trump then talked about discussions he’s had with Bryan, looking at him as he did so.
“So, supposing we hit the body with a tremendous — whether it’s ultraviolet or just very powerful light — and I think you said that that hasn’t been checked, but you’re going to test it. And then I said, supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or in some other way, and I think you said you’re going to test that too. It sounds interesting.”
Then Bryan discussed disinfectant again. “We’re continuing with that. For example, on the aerosol side, you notice the figures were 20 percent humidity. We’re looking at higher humidity levels. We would expect that would even have a greater impact on the virus. We’re looking at other types of disinfectants. And — and so we’re — this is a — as a scientific community, we’re continuing to study the virus to understand its characteristics.”
On Friday, Trump was asked to clarify his remarks.
“I was asking a question sarcastically to reporters like you just to see what would happen. Now disinfectant or doing this maybe on the hands would work. I was asking the question of the gentleman who was there yesterday, Bill [Bryan], because when they say that something will last three to four hours or six hours, but if sun is out, or if they use disinfectant, it goes away in less than a minute. Did you hear about this yesterday?” he said.
“When I was asking a sarcastic — a very sarcastic question to the reporters in the room about disinfectant on the inside, but it does kill it, and it would kill it on the hands and that would make things much better. That was done in the form of a sarcastic question to a reporter,” Trump said.
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