For medical advice, don’t look to the president

Submitted by Jim McEvoy
Posted 4/28/20

Dear Editor:

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused considerable disruption to our daily lives here in Wyoming and worldwide. Daily press conferences conducted by President Trump and his coronavirus …

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For medical advice, don’t look to the president

Posted

Dear Editor:

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused considerable disruption to our daily lives here in Wyoming and worldwide. Daily press conferences conducted by President Trump and his coronavirus task force discuss the latest information about the virus and its control. The only effective methods to prevent new infections are social distancing and other guidelines. There is currently no vaccine or proven drug therapy.

On April 23, William Bryan, head of the science and technology directorate of the Department of Homeland Security, gave a presentation about the latest efforts to control the virus on environmental surfaces and in the air. He discussed heat, humidity, sunlight, UV radiation, and various disinfectants, including isopropyl alcohol and bleach (sodium hypochlorite). His main conclusion was that these methods show some promise in degrading the virus particles in the environment.

President Trump then spoke:

“Supposedly we hit the body with a tremendous, whether it’s ultraviolet or just very powerful light, and I think you said 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. Sounds interesting, right? And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in 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’d be interesting to check that so that you’re going to have to use medical doctors with, but it sounds interesting to me. So, we’ll see, but the whole concept of the light, the way it kills it in one minute. That’s pretty powerful.”

A reporter asked: “The president mentioned the idea of a cleaner, bleach and isopropyl alcohol emerging. There’s no scenario where that could be injected into a person, is there?

Mr. Bryan: “No, I’m here to talk about the finds that we had in the study. We don’t do that within that lab at our labs.”

President Trump: “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.”

The warnings from health experts were forceful, unequivocal and unremitting. Dara Kass, associate professor of emergency medicine at Columbia University, stated that “people will do extraordinary things if you give them the idea,” warning that some could immediately ingest rubbing alcohol or bleach since these are common household items. They are extremely toxic and caustic. People who ingest them die or are left debilitated on feeding tubes.

Craig Spencer, director of global health in emergency medicine at New York/Columbia University Medical Center stated “This is not willy-nilly, off the cuff, maybe this will work advice. This is dangerous.”

Ryan Marino, medical toxicologist and ER physician at University Hospitals in Cleveland said, “We’ve heard the president trying to practice medicine for several weeks now [referring to Trump’s earlier promotion of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine as treatment for COVID-19], but this is a new low that is outside the realms of common sense or plausibility.”

In conclusion, do NOT listen to or in any way consider the statements of President Trump as valid medical advice. Follow the recommendations of your personal healthcare provider only.

Jim McEvoy

Powell

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