Piers Morgan believes that U.S. President Donald Trump’s question as to whether patients could be injected with disinfectants to fight COVID-19 is not only “completely unsubstantiated” but could get people killed.
Morgan wrote an opinion piece in the Daily Mail in which he called out the president for asking this question during Thursday’s White House coronavirus press briefing — a question as to whether people suffering from the novel coronavirus may be healed by injecting disinfectants. Trump also suggested that doctors could perhaps find a way to treat people with UV light in order to fight the disease.
The president’s comments came after William Bryan of the Department of Homeland Security explained that new research found that UV light, bleach, and isopropyl alcohol can kill the virus within minutes.
When Trump took the podium, he mused that perhaps scientists should find a way to “hit the body with a tremendous — whether it’s ultraviolet or just very powerful light.”
He then turned to Dr. Deborah Birx and asked if they were planning on testing the idea. Birx made an uncomfortable face, but didn’t respond. Trump went on to say that there may be a way to shoot light into the body and that researchers were looking into the “interesting” idea.
Birx replied that they weren’t looking at UV light as a treatment for COVID-19, but Trump continued, saying he thought it was a “great” thing to explore.
The president then turned to the idea of using disinfectants like alcohol and bleach to attack the virus.
“And then I see the disinfectant where it knocks out in a minute,” Trump said. “One minute. And there is a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning? So, it will be interesting to check that.”
“It wouldn’t be through injections, almost a cleaning and sterilization of an area. Maybe it works, maybe it doesn’t work, but it certainly has a big effect if it’s on a stationary object,” Trump would later say, clarifying his earlier remarks.
Morgan took Trump to task with a brutal takedown for the controversial musing, saying that the president isn’t a doctor and should stop “pretending” to be one.
“I just see a president pretending to be a medical expert and spewing theories that might have disastrous consequences,” Morgan wrote.
Morgan then commented on the numerous doctors and health experts that responded yesterday to Trump’s question, urging people not to inject or consume bleach or alcohol to try and battle the virus.
Additionally, the EPA issued a press release yesterday urging people not to use disinfects internally, whether that means ingesting them or applying them to food. It also warned that mixing chemicals could cause dangerous and possibly toxic gases.
Morgan concluded that Trump should be using his position to give people information and guidance, not make medical suggestions that aren’t based on science.
“For you to use your platform to fly absurdly delusional and dangerous medical ‘cures’ during this crisis is an outrageous abuse of your position,” Morgan said.