US President Donald Trump has explained he’s not taking any responsibility for any spike in people using disinfectants improperly, after suggesting last week that ingesting it could serve as a treatment for coronavirus.
When he was asked about the increase during a White House news conference, Trump said “I can’t imagine why.”
He was then asked if he takes any responsibility for the spike and said “No, I don’t.”
The suggestion was made by Trump last week during a White House coronavirus briefing.
A Department of Homeland Security official was discussing experiments where disinfectants like bleach killed the virus on nonporous surfaces, and it was here that Trump considered about whether disinfectants could be used to treat the virus in humans.
He asked whether there is “a way we could do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning”.
After cleaning product companies and state health officials rushed to issue warnings about the danger of ingesting chemicals such as bleach, Trump later claimed he was being sarcastic.
However, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan said that his state received hundreds of calls from people asking whether injecting or ingesting disinfectants was an effective way to combat COVID-19.
“I think it is critical that the President of the United States, when people are really scared and in the middle of this worldwide pandemic, that in these press conferences, that we really get the facts out there,” Hogan told Margaret Brennan on CBS’ “Face the Nation.
This article originally appeared on Over60.