‘Pray they’re going to be OK,’ official says of Georgia men who drank disinfectant

Two Georgia men drank liquid disinfectant over the weekend in an attempt to fend off the coronavirus, according to the Georgia Poison Center.

One of the men drank bleach and the other ingested several products, including pine oil, to try to prevent against getting COVID-19, Gaylord Lopez, Georgia Poison Center’s Director told McClatchy News.

“It’s one of those things where, gosh you hope and pray they’re gonna be OK and regardless of what their mental status is, you have to feel for these guys who do this,” Lopez said.

Both of the men were released from the hospital a couple of days after being admitted, according to Lopez.

Last week, President Donald Trump suggested during a White House briefing that disinfectant be tested as a treatment for the coronavirus.

“And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in a minute,” he said. “One minute. And is there a way we can do something like that, 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 would be interesting to check that. So, that, you’re going to have to use medical doctors with. But it sounds — it sounds interesting to me.”

Lopez told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that people were interpreting Trump’s remarks as a recommendation to drink disinfectant when he was “only asking questions about the possibility of such a treatment.”

Trump said Monday that he doesn’t accept responsibility for an increase of disinfectants being used incorrectly, according to CNN. When asked if he took responsibility, he answered: “No, I don’t.”

Lopez told McClatchy News the number of calls to Georgia Poison Center have gone up since the coronavirus pandemic began.

“We have had a number of calls coming into the center and our volume has increased,” he said. “Some of them are related to parents being at home and not watching their kids and being on a Zoom meeting. If people are going to use chemicals and cleaning agents, follow label instructions and if they have any symptoms, have them call their local poison control center.”