The Centers For Disease Control is out with a report today that shows “calls to poison centers regarding exposures to cleaners and disinfectants have increased since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.” This comes nearly six weeks after Donald Trump was highly criticized for saying, “I see the disinfectant that knocks it out in a minute, one minute. And is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside or almost a cleaning?” Now the CDC says based on a survey conducted in May they found that 39% of the people “reported intentionally engaging in at least one high-risk practice not recommended by CDC for prevention of SARS-CoV-2 transmission.” That includes applying bleach to food like fruits and vegetables, using household cleaning and disinfectant products on hands or skin, inhaling vapors from household cleaners, and drinking or gargling diluted bleach solutions, soapy water, and other cleaning and disinfectant solutions.

The CDC adds, “These practices pose a risk of severe tissue damage and corrosive injury and should be strictly avoided.” Or as NBC News puts it, “Such acts are not only harmful, they also do nothing to prevent infections and should never be done.”

Statnews reports:

“Of the respondents, 19% said they had used bleach on food, 18% said they had applied household cleaners to their skin, 10% said they had misted themselves with disinfectant sprays, 6% had inhaled vapors from the cleaners, and 4% had drunk or gargled diluted bleach solutions, soapy water, or other disinfectants.“