Trump's Officials Explain Why His Idea of Injecting Disinfectant Into Patients Won't Cure COVID-19

Federal officials were forced to explain to Donald Trump during Thursday’s coronavirus (COVID-19) briefing that his idea of either blasting coronavirus patients with heat or ultraviolet light or injecting them with cleaning chemicals would not rid them of the potentially deadly respiratory virus.

Dr. Deborah Birx, the federal health official serving as Trump’s coronavirus task force coordinator, told the president she hasn’t heard of those methods “as a treatment.”

“Deborah, have you ever heard of that? The heat and the light. Relative to certain viruses, yes, but relative to this virus?” Trump, 73, asked Birx.

“Not as a treatment,” Birx, 64, responded. “I mean, certainly fever is a good thing. When you have a fever, it helps your body respond. But not as.. I’ve not seen heat or light.”

Trump expressed the idea mid-briefing after William Bryan, the Under Secretary for Science and Technology at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, gave a presentation on an ongoing, inconclusive study that shows heat, humidity, and sunlight might possibly break down the coronavirus at a faster rate than when it lives in a colder environment.

Bryan also said bleach and other disinfectants like isopropyl alcohol have been proven to kill the novel virus on nonporous surfaces, such as metal playground equipment.

Trump then suggested that maybe Bryan’s lab can look into the possibility of using heat and light or injecting disinfectants such as bleach into the human body to kill the virus.

“It’d be interesting to check that,” Trump said, asking Bryan elsewhere in the briefing whether it would be effective to put such a disinfectant on your hand to kill the virus instead.

“Maybe it works, maybe it doesn’t work,” Trump shrugged. “But it certainly has an effect on a stationary object.”

Bryan explained to Trump that unlike metal, the skin on the human hand is porous so the impact would not be the same.

RELATED: Reporter Interrupts Trump’s Complaints About His Coronavirus Coverage: ‘That’s Not True’

The president who himself said Thursday, “I’m not a doctor,” was questioned about whether it is safe for him to be making these claims.

“Respectfully sir, you’re the president and people tuning in to these briefings, they want to get information and guidance and want to know what to do. They’re not looking for rumors,” Washington Post reporter Phil Rucker said to Trump, drawing the president’s ire.

“Hey, Phil. I’m the president and you’re fake news,” Trump said back.

“It’s just a suggestion from a brilliant lab from a very, very smart — perhaps brilliant man — he’s talking about sun, he’s talking about heat, and you see the numbers,” Trump told Rucker, referencing Bryan’s earlier presentation. “So, that’s it. That’s all I have. I’m just here to present talent. I’m just here to present ideas because we want ideas to get rid of this thing.”

RELATED: Meghan McCain Says ‘the Trumps Are Always Making My Mom Cry’ as She Talks Biden, 2020 & More

At least 46,000 people in the U.S. have died from the coronavirus, according to a New York Times tracker. There have been at least 861,000 confirmed cases of the virus across the country.

Federal health officials say a vaccine to treat the COVID-19 respiratory illness is at least a year to a year-and-a-half away from being readily available to the American public.

“We’re very close to a vaccine,” Trump claimed Thursday.

As information about the coronavirus pandemic rapidly changes, PEOPLE is committed to providing the most recent data in our coverage. Some of the information in this story may have changed after publication. For the latest on COVID-19, readers are encouraged to use online resources from CDC, WHO, and local public health departments. To help provide doctors and nurses on the front lines with life-saving medical resources, donate to Direct Relief here.