#the extent to which i have wanted to whistleblow professors (but am aware their institutions are Fully Backing Them slash Worse)

[epochryphal]

the more zoombombings i experience (always targeted at specific dates + topics + people around Indigenous, Jewish, and/or trans healing, solidarity, and organizing) the more infuriated i become with this one professor who insisted on ~“avoiding zoombombings”~ by making the zoom link different weekly + hard to find + verified by email log-in + use of legal names -- when his class was reifying ideas of “primitive” architecture and Western European white supremacy+colonial-imperialism and binary gender+sex

just bro, you’re not remotely a target

[panicinthestudio]

Doctors and health experts urged people not to drink or inject disinfectant on Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump suggested scientists should investigate inserting the cleaning agent into the body as a way to combat COVID-19.

"[This is an] absolutely dangerous, crazy suggestion," said Paul Hunter, a professor of medicine at Britain's University of East Anglia.

"You may not die of COVID-19 after injecting disinfectant, but only because you may already be dead from the injection."

Trump said at his daily media briefing on Thursday that scientists should explore whether inserting light or disinfectant into the bodies of people infected with the new coronavirus might help them clear the disease.

"Is there a way we can do something like that by injection, inside, or almost a cleaning?" he said. "It would be interesting to check that."

Trump looked over at Dr. Deborah Birx while making the comments. The co-ordinator of one of the White House's coronavirus task forces appeared uncomfortable and caught off-guard.

Parastou Donyai, director of pharmacy practice and a professor of social and cognitive pharmacy at the University of Reading, said Trump's comments were shocking and unscientific.

Donyai said people worried about the new coronavirus and the COVID-19 disease it causes should seek help from a qualified doctor or pharmacist, and "not take unfounded and off-the-cuff comments as actual advice."

Robert Reich, a professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley and a former U.S. labour secretary, added on Twitter: "Trump's briefings are actively endangering the public's health. Please don't drink disinfectant."

Reckitt Benckiser, which manufacturers household disinfectants Dettol and Lysol, issued a statement on Friday.

"Under no circumstance should our disinfectant products be administered into the human body [through injection, ingestion or any other route]," the company said.

Trump's comments were also met with alarm by the medical experts that the U.S. news networks employ as contributors.

"I just don't think we should be normalizing that in any way, shape or form," said Dr. Sanjay Gupta on CNN.

In the same segment, Dr. Leana Wen said the experts serving in the administration are engaged in a difficult balancing act of needing to tell the truth "while at the same time not upsetting the president so much that they can't be credible in his eyes."

The comments were also pounced on by former vice-president Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president in the November election.

"UV light? Injecting disinfectant?," said Biden. "Here's an idea, Mr. President: more tests. Now. And protective equipment for actual medical professionals."

Trump's comments came after a U.S. official in the briefing suggested the coronavirus appears to weaken more quickly when exposed to sunlight, heat and humidity, in a potential sign that the pandemic could become less contagious in summer months.

U.S. government researchers have determined that the virus survives best indoors and in dry conditions, and loses potency when temperatures and humidity rise – and especially when it is exposed to sunlight, said William Bryan, acting head of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Science and Technology Directorate.

"The virus dies quickest in the presence of direct sunlight," he told a White House news briefing. On non-porous surfaces like stainless steel, the new coronavirus takes 18 hours to lose half its strength in a dark, low-humidity environment, Bryan said.

In a high-humidity environment, that half-life dropped to six hours, and when the virus was exposed to high humidity and sunlight, the half-life dropped to two minutes, he said.

Researchers found a similar effect with the coronavirus that was suspended in the air, simulating the coughing or sneezing that often spreads the disease. In a dark room, the virus maintained half its strength for an hour. But when exposed to sunlight, it lost half its strength in 90 seconds, Bryan said.

Researchers also found that isopropyl alcohol was a more effective disinfectant than bleach, he said.

The findings could bolster hopes that the coronavirus will mimic the behaviour of other respiratory diseases like influenza, which typically are less contagious in warm weather.

But the coronavirus has also proven lethal in warm-weather places like Singapore, raising broader questions about the impact of environmental factors.

Trump lashed out at a Washington Post reporter who wondered if it was "dangerous" for him to be making unproven statements to Americans regarding sunlight and the virus.

"I'm here to present ideas because we want ideas to get rid of this thing," the president said.

Trump, in his bid to provide optimistic news as the country grapples with the deadly pandemic, has previously been criticized for dismissing the dangers of coronavirus as overblown.

As its dangers became clear, he began touting drugs whose efficacy in treating patients with the coronavirus has not been proven and which sometimes lead to deadly side-effects.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday cautioned against the use of malaria drugs, hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine, in COVID-19 patients due to the risk of serious heart rhythm problems.

The agency said it was aware of increased use of these medicines through outpatient prescriptions and the drugs could cause abnormal heart rhythms and dangerously rapid heart rate.

Concerns that political considerations may have overridden science reached Capitol Hill this week after a vaccine specialist revealed he was reassigned.

Rick Bright, former director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, or BARDA, said on Wednesday he was replaced as its director because he resisted the Trump administration's efforts to push hydroxychloroquine and the related chloroquine.

He has filed a whistleblower complaint, and Democrats are also asking questions about his reassignment.

Trump has also made rosy statements about the extent of coronavirus testing and the development of a potential vaccine that have been questioned.

Another example came Thursday when he was questioned about comments Dr. Anthony Fauci made to Time magazine.

Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the U.S. capacity to test needs to be ramped up and is being hampered by a lack of swabs and reagents, among other factors.

"I am not overly confident right now at all, that we have what it takes to do that," said Fauci.

Hours after those comments came to light, Trump replied to a reporter: "I don't agree with him on that, no, I think we're doing a great job on testing."

CBC

Trump floats dangerous coronavirus treatment ideas as Dr Birx looks on, April 24, 2020

Donald Trump prompted a backlash from medical experts after floating the idea that they could look into heat, light and injections of disinfectants as a cure for Covid-19. His public health advisers immediately played down the idea, and medics warn that trying such ideas could be fatal. Coronavirus response coordinator Dr Deborah Birx appeared caught off guard when Trump asked her directly if heat and light would cure the deadly disease. ‘Not as a treatment,' Birx replied.

The Guardian

This is public and reckless endangerment. No one should be taking Trump’s words as sound and reasonable advice.

He’s operating on zero good faith, trust, or culpability and the White House briefings on a national and international crisis to the public and press is not a context where protected freedom of speech and expression applies, least of all providing time for him to spread dangerous and life-threatening ideas as part of public office.