Misinformation is DANGEROUS. Plain and simple.

Putting politics aside, it is clear that misinformation has run rampant in the past few years whether it is on the news, social media, or government statements. Whatever your political view may be, this is DANGEROUS. The term “fake news” has become a norm touted by the President. While we all know most media outlets do have a certain bias towards one political interest or another, either way, misinformation is BAD. After having to watch the news and coronavirus briefings to stay updated on current affairs, I am now sitting daily in disbelief as Donald Trump makes statements and claims that are scientifically and medically inaccurate or dangerous to the general public. It doesn’t matter what your or my political view is, I CANNOT sit idly by while dangerous misinformation is being distributed to the general public. Words are dangerous.

The reason why I’m upset about this, is not Donald Trump or whatever my personal viewpoint may be of him and the current administration, but how and what they are specifically saying (or not saying). This post will help clear up any falsities circulating the world in this already uncertain and petrifying time. Words are dangerous.

Injecting UV light and radiation is a statement I never thought I would ever hear come out of a president’s mouth. Maybe this would happen in some spoof or sci-fi film, but sadly, that became a reality just a few days ago. Let’s first talk about UV light. UV light has been studied for decades. It’s what causes us to make vitamin D from our skin and give us tans but also causes aging, skin damage, eye damage, and even cancer. It is the same light that is emitted from tanning beds which we know to be carcinogenic or cancer causing. The benefit of UV light is that it is also dangerous for bacteria and viruses. Many medical and research facilities all over the globe use large UV lights to sterilize rooms after their use. This is how it works. Just as a general statement, cancer typically occurs as a result of damaged DNA (our genetic material) in cells that normally would be destroyed by our immune system or their own self-destructive programming when something goes wrong. UV light causes damage to the DNA of our skin cells which then ruins the ability of the cell to normally undergo apoptosis or programmed cell death in the event it is not working properly (amazing I know). This works similarly for bacteria and viruses. So why did the president make this statement? Homeland security science and research was released stating that currently they have been looking into UV-C lights to stop the transmission of person to person viruses. These lights were tested and used against the H1N1 flu epidemic and this may help keep large public areas safe. I believe what Donal Trump was trying to say was that there is a study at Cedar Sinai Hospital in which a device called Healight is being investigated as a means of putting a tube down into the lungs of those COVID-19 patients who are on a ventilator and exposing the lung to UV-A light killing the coronavirus. Now I personally do not know enough about this technology or its implications on the human body, but I would be concerned about exposing the highly sensitive tissues of the lungs to UV light. First, these patient’s already have damaged lung tissue with inflammation placing them at high risk of permanent lung damage, especially infected with COVID-19. Secondly, some of these patients already have high risk of lung cancer as their lung conditions placing them at risk of being ventilated were caused by smoking or other carcinogenic exposure. So this could be adding insult to injury and to get that kind of safety information would need long term studies. Other than that, I have no idea with the president was talking about and he should not be making these claims about something so prematurely studied. Words are dangerous.

Now for the most horrifying statement…injectable or breathable disinfectants. My jaw dropped when I heard this statement come out of his mouth (which he is now scrambling to cover up with statements saying he was being sarcastic). DO NOT INGEST, INHALE, INJECT, or USE HOUSEHOLD DISINFECTANTS ON YOUR BODY! Lets talk about this from a factual and objective standpoint. Disinfectants are harmful and toxic, end of story. Yes, we use rubbing alcohol in our day to day life to clean areas before getting injections or some use it on scrapes/cuts (not the best use but that’s not the point). Why do you think all the bottles of disinfectants say to use in a well-ventilated area or if you have ever gotten dizzy or woozy while cleaning? These substances are toxic and harmful to the human body. Even getting them on your skin, you are advised by the manufacturer to wash the area immediately. I have seen chemical inhalation injuries and pneumonitis (lung inflammation) from house cleaners and detergents before. It can be serious and even fatal. I’ve seen and heard many people in the news and on social media say “nobody with rational thought or a sound mind would ever ingest, inject, or use disinfectants.” Many people are also saying “the president never specifically said lysol, bleach, or other household products, this is just media slander and political agenda.” While yes this may be true and he did not specifically mention household disinfectants, I can say this was the most dangerous statement he could have made. There have already been reports of people drinking rubbing alcohol (isopropyl alcohol) you can buy in the first aid aisle in the pharmacy with fatal or near fatal consequences. What people don’t understand is there are people in the country and the world who don’t understand or don’t know any better and are innocently trying to help themselves based on what they are hearing from people they think who know what they are talking about. I have seen this many times in my career where a patient thinks bleach kills bacteria (it does) however they will soak a wound on their foot to help disinfect it, only later finding out that it was bad and we then need to amputate their foot because it caused so much tissue damage, it is not salvageable. I have had patients drink hand sanitizer thinking it would help their strep throat and they think it will kill the bacteria only to land them in the hospital with toxicity. Some people just don’t know any better and will do what they think is right, no fault of their own, innocently believing what they hear. Even rubbing isopropyl alcohol all over your skin can be dangerous or fatal, especially if you have a fever from COVID-19 because it makes your body think it is cold turning your internal thermostat up making you shiver. This results in a higher than normal body temperature that is already roasting from a fever potentially leading to seizures, brain damage, and death. A man was recently hospitalized after drinking rubbing alcohol for his COVID-19 symptoms thinking it would kill the virus. So as you can see, this statement, no matter what Donald Trump meant, it was dangerous to the general public. He has since retracted his statement saying it was meant to be sarcastic to the reporters, however he still said it, and some people will not interpret that. Words are dangerous.

Hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine have been Donald Trump’s miracle baby. Since the first day it was thought that these antimalarial and anti-rheumatic drugs might have some benefit. He has been singing their praise. All of this was based on anecdotal evidence. Anecdotal means some doctors tried it experimentally on some critically-ill patients based on their understanding of how the drug works and how COVID-19 effects the body and it may or may not have helped. There were no studies, no research, and no synthesizing of this information. It was merely reported. That would be like me saying I drank some cold water when my ankle was hurting and then my ankle pain went away. Does that mean the cold water helped my ankle pain, most certainly it wasn’t, but it was not studied so who knows. A few doctors overseas tried it in patients who were severely ill and some of them had quick recoveries. As these statements became widespread, more doctors, PAs, and NPs started prescribing them OFF LABEL (not approved for use by the FDA) in patients who were really sick from COVID-19. Some got better, and some did not. Donald Trump and Mike Pence were touting their benefits daily saying it was going to be a miracle drug while Dr. Fauci and Dr. Hahn (head of the FDA) noted that these drugs were not studied in patients with COVID-19 and we do not know if it works or is safe. Now, Hydroxychloroquine has been around for a long time and used in millions of people for malaria as well as rheumatoid arthritis and other rheumatologic conditions. However these uses were extensively studied under strict criteria for a long period of time and still come with warnings. Patients starting these drugs normally have to undergo certain screening tests including liver/kidney checks, a baseline EKG to check their heart, and an eye exam (among others). Now while this is mostly for long term use, a concern for short term use, like for COVID-19, is something called QT prolongation which is a change in the electrical conduction of the heart that can lead to a deadly cardiac arrhythmia. While rare, these patients with COVID-19 have already demonstrated significant damaging effects to the heart and may be on other medications which also cause QT prolongation leading to a higher risk of this arrhythmia. Studies are being conducted all over the world currently to determine whether or not, this drug works in COVID-19 and if it is safe. Some studies suggest a few days of a low dose within the first 24-48 hours of COVID-19 symptoms may prevent hospitalization or progression to serious disease but this remains in question. Other studies that have recently come out report that the drug does not provide any significant benefit and actually led to serious side effects and even death in those who were ventilated. In other words, it remains unclear and it is up to individual medical providers to make the decision of whether or not to use these drugs based on a specific patient’s needs (no conclusive evidence exists but its use is warned against by various organizations). When Donald Trump first announced this “miracle” to the public in his press briefings, the amount of Hydroxychloroquine dropped because people were trying to obtain it. This left thousands of people who take it for Lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, and other conditions scrambling to try and find a pharmacy that had it in stock to fill their prescriptions. This happened to a few friends and colleagues of mine who rely on this medication to suppress their illnesses. A married couple made the news when they heard that these drugs were a miracle and could cure the virus. They saw that their fish tank cleaner contained a different form of chloroquine which proved fatal for one and hospitalizing the other in critical condition. Deaths like that could have been prevented. Words are dangerous.

Cases are not falling and we are NOT doing a great job with containing this virus. Yes, overall the healthcare system has fought an uphill battle with determination and most people are social distancing and home isolating which is great. Some states are seeing a plateau but not all. We still have now reached >50,000 deaths country-wide in just 7-8 weeks which is devastating and almost reached one million cases nationwide. When the president and his team announce that we are beating this and its already getting better, this gives false hope to those who truly don’t believe or understand the reality of the situation. Cases are increasing still and many states have yet to see their surge which could over stretch their healthcare system. How can Donald Trump say things are getting better when Massachusetts is now the third state behind New York and New Jersey with increasing death rates and new cases by the day? If people see their claims of improvement, they will feel more at ease and not take their social distancing practices as seriously as they once had, thinking this is it, and it’s getting better. His tweets to liberate various states sparked protests with hundreds, if not thousands, of people standing in close proximity to one another without masks stating their disbelief in the virus and that this is all a hoax. Rather than recommending they protest differently while following social distancing measures his own administration put out, he has talked around the subject (not saying is sometimes worse than saying). Since then, cases have spiked in those areas. People listen to what others have to say and words have power, especially from those who are in positions of power or with fame. Dr. Oz, Dr. Drew, Dr. Phil (who isn’t a real medical doctor) have been seen all over the news spewing false information and even some shocking statements, some of which they have since taken back because they know they were wrong. Words are dangerous.

To me, one of the biggest failings of them all was the echoing remarks of Donald Trump and Fox News stating just weeks before a nationwide shutdown that the virus was a “hoax.” When the president of the United States is filmed at a rally in front of thousands claiming that the virus is a “hoax” and then a major news network such as Fox News then reports it also as being a hoax despite expert warnings from various health organizations globally, this creates a wave of conspiracy. People, even to this day say the videos of New York and the mass graves are staged, the virus isn’t real, it is just a liberal agenda, and now they are even accusing Bill Gates, a man who is worth more money than most people in the world combined, of creating the virus so that he can profit off of the vaccines he is promoting. This is dangerous thinking in a time when the entire world has shut down because of a single virus. People who do not believe in the virus will go out into the world (and already have) causing further infection in the community negating all the effects of isolation and social distancing to this point. Megachurches are still holding services in some places where COVID-19 is prevalent resulting in higher cases because of their disbelief in the current science. This will make a longer economic freeze and could potentially collapse our healthcare system. All of this because of one word…Hoax. Words are dangerous.

I can’t believe I have to say this but… THE VIRUS IS REAL AND IT CAN BE DANGEROUS! So I beg of you all, please share this blog or at least tell those who don’t understand what is happening to go to a reputable source such as the CDC, WHO, or call their primary care provider if they have questions. It appears the only one who is creating “fake news” is the man who coined the term himself. Yes news programs have their own agendas and some are spreading misinformation one way or another, but listen to those who actually know what they’re talking about. I know this sounded like a political rant, but I swear to you that it is not. These public words are dangerous statements made by someone who is not an expert in the subject matter. I have nothing to gain from this website or this blog. There are no advertisements, I have no sponsors, and I am simply doing this to educate the public. If this was some conspiracy or hidden agenda, I wouldn’t have an insane amount of student loans still begging for monthly mortgage-esque payments. I’d be laughing while driving out of my gorgeous mansion in my Bugatti Chiron, not sitting in my 700 square-foot apartment while my 2014 Subaru rusts in my driveway, haha.

Be safe everyone and continue to STAY HOME! Oh yea…and always remember… Words are dangerous