Trump Suggests Injecting Disinfectant to Treat COVID-19

The Briefing

On April 23, 2020, during a White House coronavirus task force briefing, President Trump turned to his medical advisers and speculated aloud about unproven and dangerous treatment methods. After a presentation by a Department of Homeland Security official about how sunlight and disinfectants could kill the virus on surfaces, Trump suggested the findings might be applied to treating patients. “I see the disinfectant that knocks it out in a minute, one minute,” Trump said. “Is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning?”

The Full Remarks

Trump also raised the possibility of using ultraviolet light inside the body. “Supposing we hit the body with a tremendous, whether it’s ultraviolet or just very powerful light,” he said, “and I think you said that hasn’t been checked but you’re going to test it.” He looked toward Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, as he spoke. Birx appeared visibly uncomfortable but did not publicly contradict the president. The remarks were broadcast live to millions of Americans desperate for information about a virus that had, by that date, killed more than 50,000 people in the United States.

Immediate Backlash

The medical community responded with alarm. Physicians, toxicologists, and public health officials issued urgent warnings that ingesting or injecting disinfectant could be fatal. The makers of Lysol and Dettol released a statement urging people not to use their products internally. Poison control centers in several states reported increases in calls related to disinfectant exposure in the days following Trump’s remarks. Maryland’s Emergency Management Agency said it received hundreds of calls about whether ingesting disinfectant was an effective coronavirus treatment.

Trump’s Walkback

The following day, Trump claimed he had been speaking “sarcastically” and that his comments were directed at reporters “just to see what would happen.” Video of the briefing, however, showed Trump making the remarks earnestly while addressing his medical advisers. The incident became one of the most widely discussed moments of the pandemic and reinforced concerns about the danger of the president using the daily briefings as a platform for speculation rather than science. Shortly after the controversy, the White House scaled back the frequency of the daily briefings.