April 29, 2020 | The Clarion
Campus News
Page 3
Trump's medical inaccuracies
By Eleanor Flannery
Sports Editor
Last week, Donald Trump added to his list
of inaccurate medical claims as an effort to
suggest COVID-19 treatments. On Thursday,
during a White House press briefing, Trump
fabricated a bizarre idea he thought could
potentially help COVID-19 victims. Trump
suggested trying to inject a type of disinfectant
“inside” to “clean” out the illness.
“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? 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. So, that, you’re
going to have to use medical doctors with. But
it sounds — it sounds interesting to me.”
On Friday, Trump tried to clear up his
dubious comments made just the day before,
by claiming his assertions were not to be taken
literally. When asked about his comments.
Trump said during a bill signing “I was asking
a question sarcastically to reporters like you
just to see what would happen.”
He continued, suggesting he was talking
about trying out using disinfectants on the
hands, and kept claiming his earlier comments
were simply out of sarcasm, “...a very sarcastic
question to the reporters in the room about
disinfectant on the inside.”
A journalist clarified that Trump had asked
his medical experts to look into his idea, to
which Trump responded, “No, no, no, no — to
look into whether or not sun and disinfectant on
the hands, but whether or not sun can help us.”
Trump also claimed on the previous day that a
“rumor” he heard explained how sunlight could
be used as a treatment to help fight coronavirus.
“Sun has a tremendous impact on it,” he said,
and explained how “very powerful light” could
be used to “hit the body” or be brought “inside
the body...either through the skin or in some
other way.”
“There’s been a rumor that — you know, a
very nice rumor - that you go outside in the sun
or you have heat and it does have an effect on
other viruses,” Trump said. He then asked the
coronavirus task force coordinator Dr. Deborah
Birx “to speak to the medical doctors to see if
there’s any way that you can apply light and
heat to cure, you know, if you could.”
Trump also asked Birx if she “ever heard
of the heat and the light” having an effect on
other types of viruses. Birx responded, “Not
as a treatment.”
Later, Trump directed Birx, again, to
investigate using the power of the sun as a
potential cure. “I would like you to speak to
the medical doctors to see if there’s any way
that you can apply light and heat to cure, you
know, if you could. And maybe you can, maybe
you can’t.”
Medical professionals have since urged
Americans across the nation to not ingest or
inject any sort of disinfectant. “We don’t want
to inject disinfectants in our body. That’s a bad
idea,” Dr. Colleen Kraft, an associate professor
of infectious diseases at the Emory University
School of Medicine, said on CNN. “We don’t
want to use things in a way that is harmful to
us...it could definitely kill you.”
FDA Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn, a
member of the White House task force, also
said on CNN’s town hall on Thursday, “I
certainly wouldn’t recommend the internal
ingestion of a disinfectant.”
As Trump put it on Thursday, “I’m not
a doctor, but I’m, like, a person that has a
good you-know-what.” It is important to stay
updated on coronavirus and the efforts made
by professionals to combat it, but only medical
professionals and doctors are qualified to
make serious claims regarding treatment for
the illness.
If you, a friend or a loved one has ingested
any sort of disinfectant or dangerous chemical,
please immediately contact the poison control
center hotline: American Association of Poison
Control Centers, (800) 222-1222.
Best Practices
FOR EVERY AMERICAN
Trump speaks at White House press briefing regarding Covid-19.