The week
Deborah Birx still thinks of Trump’s idea of injecting disinfectant to treat COVID-19 ‘every day’
We all have those moments that live without paying rent in our heads, repeating regularly as we try to fall asleep or take a shower. For Dr. Deborah Birx, that moment is when former President Donald Trump casually suggested that Americans could inject bleach to treat COVID-19. “Frankly, I didn’t know how to handle that episode,” Birx, the former White House coronavirus response coordinator, told ABC News on Monday. “I still think about it every day.” During a meeting last April, Trump said that disinfectants like bleach can “eliminate” the coronavirus “in a minute”, and he wondered aloud if there is “a way for us to do something like this by injection or quasi cleaning, because you can see it hits the lungs and hits a tremendous number in the lungs, so it would be interesting to check that out. “While Trump was talking, a camera zoomed in on Birx. She told ABC News that it was clear that she was “extraordinarily uncomfortable”, but she said nothing because after spending decades in the army, she knew “there are discussions that you have in particular with your commanding officers and there are discussions that you had in public. “Although Birx remained publicly silent, several doctors and then-presidential candidate Joe Biden were quick to tell people to ignore Trump and put Clorox on the floor. Birx told ABC News that she spoke regularly with Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s leading infectious disease specialist, about “how to fix the record. I can’t say how many discussions we had, how we got the message across to what is going on in the higher levels of the White House. “Birx, who stepped down in December, told ABC News that he applauds the Biden government for having consistent messages on COVID-19 and expects Trump to start promoting vaccines. “I think it’s important,” she said. “But for all Trump supporters: protect yourself, protect your family. Get vaccinated.” More stories from theweek.comWhat is the Awakening Revolution – and is it not The Invisible President? Ron Johnson denies being racist after making supportive comments about troublemakers pro-Trump, criticizing the BLM