The President of the United States, a man who literally has the power to kill billions of people in an hour, made a suggestion at his press briefing yesterday:
(NBC's report on the incident includes the line "He didn't specify the kind of disinfectant." Also, retired General Wesley Clark actually predicted it would come to this.)
In a statement Friday, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany noted that Trump had said Americans should consult with their doctors about treatment. U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams released a statement reiterating that on Friday morning.
McEnany accused the media of taking Trump’s words out of context.
“President Trump has repeatedly said that Americans should consult with medical doctors regarding coronavirus treatment, a point that he emphasized again during yesterday’s briefing," she said.
Trump’s eyebrow-raising query came immediately after William N. Bryan, the acting undersecretary for science and technology at the Department of Homeland Security, gave a presentation on the potential impact of summer heat and humidity, which also included references to tests that showed the effectiveness of different types of disinfectants. He recounted data from recent tests that showed how bleach, alcohol and sunlight could kill the coronavirus on surfaces.
Well, the video above gives you about 75 full seconds of context, so you can make up your own mind on what he meant.
Fine, whatever. In real news:
- Illinois governor JB Pritzker announced an extension to the shelter-in-place order through May 30th, though some of the rules will be relaxed on May 1st.
- The models looks like Illinois has hit peak Covid-19 already as infections and deaths have leveled off.
- In the same way that you can find trees in a forest, NBC has uncovered evidence of corruption in the White House procurement process for PPE and ventilators.
- Via Bruce Schneier, OneZero is tracking 30 countries using surveillance to monitor Covid-19—and their citizens more generally.
Finally, Bill Gates lays out what we'll need to open up the economy again.