Kansas official says man drank cleaner after Trump floated dangerous disinfectant remedy

After President Donald Trump floated ingesting highly toxic disinfectant as a treatment for the coronavirus, Kansas health authorities say a man drank cleaning product over the weekend.

Lee Norman, the state health officer, said the head of the Kansas Poison Control Center reported a more than 40 percent increase in cleaning chemical cases.

“Including a fellow over the weekend who drank a product because of the advice he’d received,” Norman said during a news conference Monday.

Norman didn’t identify where the man had gotten the advice. Last week Trump wondered aloud whether injecting disinfectant could fight COVID-19.

Experts say drinking bleach or any other type of disinfectant is dangerous and possibly fatal. The makers of disinfectant products, such as Lysol, have also issued warnings against consuming their products.

“We’re doing what we can to counter-message against that kind of remedy,” Norman said.

Still, the incident reflects the power of the president’s influence at a time when people across the country are looking for information about the coronavirus and how they can prevent becoming infected.

Asked by a reporter on Monday about “Maryland and other states” where governors say they have seen “a spike in people using disinfectant after your comments last week, I know you said they were ‘sarcastic’“ -- the president interjected before the reporter could finish and said, “I can’t imagine why. I can’t imagine why.”

“Do you take any responsibility?” the reporter followed up.

Trump said, “No, I don’t. No, I can’t imagine. I can’t imagine that.”

The White House has said the president’s comments had been misrepresented by the media, and Trump said he had been speaking sarcastically. But a transcript of his remarks suggested otherwise.

Trump had noted at a Thursday briefing that research was underway into the effect disinfectants have on the virus and wondered aloud if they could be injected into people.

“Is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning?” Trump asked. “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.”

The U.S. Surgeon General’s office later tweeted a reminder to all Americans: “PLEASE always talk to your health provider first before administering any treatment/ medication to yourself or a loved one.”