April 29, 2020 | Jill Bold | chief-in-editor
President Donald Trump has a history of controversial statements, but his recent attempts to tout false cures for the coronavirus are dangerous.
As the U.S. president, he is one of the most influential people on the planet, and every word he utters will be scrutinized. So far, his ideas for coronavirus treatments have had no basis in medical fact and have created a mix of confusion and outrage from American citizens.
In early April, President Trump tweeted about the use of chloroquine as a “game changer” in the treatment of the coronavirus. This is a product used to fight fish diseases and is meant for use in aquariums, not as a treatment for humans. CNN reported that an Arizona man lost his life after taking the president’s words as truth and ingested the product.
In Trump’s April 23 press briefing, he responded to new findings that ultraviolet sunlight, bleach and alcohol all help prevent the spread of the virus on household surfaces.
He implored his advisers to look into shining light into the bodies of sick people, without acknowledging that this is already proven to be harmful to the human body.
He then suggested that they harness the killing power of bleach to eliminate the virus from the body by injecting disinfectant into ill patients to eliminate the virus from the body like Chlorox wipes would clean a countertop.
It’s bad enough that these “solutions” are so irredeemably wrong, but to mention them in a public setting to the millions of people who are listening to him is irresponsible as a leader. As a result of his statements on injecting bleach, the manufacturer of Lysol released an official statement warning against using their product in this way.
The country has already seen the deadly consequences of following Trump’s “medical” advice. He’s not a doctor, and he’s not a responsible leader. He harnesses the power and reach of his words to make himself look smarter and in control of this situation when he, in reality, is not. He needs to heed the advice of experts for the sake of the nation’s health and prosperity.
