Trump asks Birx if she’s heard that heat and light can be used to cure coronavirus. Birx says no.
At Thursday's coronavirus task force briefing, President Trump suggested that heat and light could be used to treat a person with the coronavirus. When the president asked White House coronavirus response coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx about it, she said no.
Video Transcript
DONALD TRUMP: So I'm gonna ask Bill a question that probably some of you are thinking of if you're totally into that world, which I find to be very interesting. So supposing we hit the body with a tremendous-- whether it's ultraviolet or just very powerful light-- and I think you said that hasn't been checked, but you're gonna test it.
And then I said, supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or in some other way. And I think you said you're gonna test that too. It sounds interesting.
WILLIAM BRYAN: Once we get the right folks equipped.
DONALD TRUMP: Right. 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 by injection inside or-- or almost a cleaning? Because you see it gets on 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 with. But it sounds-- it sounds interesting to me. So we'll see. But the whole concept of the light, the way it kills it in one minute, that's-- that's pretty powerful.
I'm just hearing this-- not really for the first time. I mean, there's been a rumor that, you know, a very nice rumor, that you go outside in the sun or you have heat, and it does have an effect on other viruses. But now we get it from one of the great laboratories of the world, I have to say. It covers a lot more territory than just this. This is-- this is probably an easy thing, relatively speaking, for you.
I would like you to speak to the medical doctors to see if there's any way that you can apply light and heat to cure, you know, if you could. And maybe you can, maybe you can't. Again, I say, maybe you can, maybe you can't. I'm not a doctor. But I'm, like, a person that has a good you know what.
- But, sir, you're the president.
DONALD TRUMP: Deborah, have you ever heard of the heat and the light relative to certain viruses, yes, but relative to this virus?
DEBORAH BIRX: Not as a treatment. I mean, certainly, fever--
DONALD TRUMP: Yeah.
DEBORAH BIRX: --is a good thing. When you have a fever, it helps your body respond. But not as-- I've not seen heat or light as a--
DONALD TRUMP: I think it's a great thing to look at. I mean, you know, OK?
- Respectfully, sir, you're the president. And people tuning into these briefings, they want to get information and guidance and want to know what to do. They're not looking for rumors.
DONALD TRUMP: Hey. Hey, Phil. Hey, Phil. I'm the president and you're fake news. And you know what I'll say to you? I'll say very nicely-- I know you well. I know you well. Because I know the guy. I see what he writes. He's a total faker.
So are you ready? Are you ready? Are you ready? It's just a suggestion from a brilliant lab by a very, very, smart, perhaps brilliant man. He's talking about sun. He's talking about heat. And you see the numbers.
So that's it. That's all I have. I'm just here to present talent. I'm here to present ideas, because we want ideas to get rid of this thing. And if heat is good and if sunlight is good, that's a great thing as far as I'm concerned. Go ahead.
