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Dr. Deborah Birx explained why former President Donald Trump spoke about the use of "disinfectant" as a potential solution to COVID-19.
While speaking in the U.K. to Sky News' Kay Burley on Thursday, Birx said, at the time, she felt the government was losing all the credibility it had built about coronavirus with the American people after Trump's comments.
Birx suggested there had been miscommunication with the president as she had asked the Department of Homeland Security to conduct a study looking into the effects of sunlight versus disinfectant on playground equipment, not as a treatment for individuals.
Trump faced significant backlash and incorrect claims began circulating that the president had told people to inject or consume bleach as a form of treatment for COVID-19.
In April 2020, Trump spoke at a press conference where he suggested ultraviolet or "just very powerful light" as one way of treating COVID. He went on to say the use of "disinfectant" could be another solution.
"And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in a minute, one minute. And is there a way we can do something like that?" Trump said.
"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, but it sounds interesting to me."
Speaking on the incident to Burley, Birx said she was left wondering what had happened and what Trump was saying.
"The most important thing you have in the pandemic is communication and clear communication and we clearly failed on that," she said.
"I am thinking, everything we have done to build credibility with the American people is unraveling in this moment. I couldn't understand what was happening.
"Because we asked our Department of Homeland Security to study the effect of sunlight verses disinfectant on playground equipment. Because it was April and I wanted children outside because a lot of mayors and a lot of cities closed their playgrounds."
Birx explained that she was pushing the study because she really wanted children to be able to go back outside and get some fresh air.
"I know sunlight produced a lot of free radicals that will often kill viruses, bacteria and fungus," she continued.
"Everyone understood disinfectant at the time so I thought if they did this comparison between sunlight and disinfectant and showed it was as active parents and mayors would open their playgrounds again.
"Instead, all of a sudden we are talking about humans rather than monkey bars. It took me a while to figure out what he was talking about because this was strictly about playgrounds."
Birx closed the interview by promoting her new book, Silent Invasion: The Untold Story of the Trump Administration, COVID-19, and Preventing the Next Pandemic Before It's Too Late, where she dives deeper into infectious diseases like COVID-19.
Newsweek has contacted Trump's office for comment.
About the writer
Gerrard Kaonga is a Newsweek U.S. News Reporter and is based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on U.S. ... Read more