Poison Control Call Centers Experience High Call Volume After Trump's Disinfectant Comments

One day after the President of the US told citizens that the use of injected disinfectants should be explored to fight COVID-19, poison control centers throughout the country were flooded with calls. The influx of call center traffic comes at a challenging time, as call centers in all industries, and particularly healthcare, are already being bombarded because of the coronavirus pandemic.

In Washington, the already overburdened Emergency Management Division had to tweet out warnings like "Seriously. #DontDrinkBleach#DontInfectDisinfectant." And "Please don't eat tide pods or inject yourself with any kind of disinfectant."

The Maryland Governor's office said the call center for the state's Emergency Management Agency received more than 100 calls about ingesting disinfectants as a possible treatment for COVID-19 following the President's comments. New York City's Poison Control Center received twice as many calls after the comments, specifically about exposure to household cleaners and disinfectants. The call center said just 18 hours after President Trump's comments, it had received 30 exposure calls relating to disinfectants. Ten calls were about bleach, nine related to Lysol and 11 were about other household cleaners.

The poison control call center in Illinois was also impacted by an increase in calls after the President's comments. Dr. Ngozi Ezike, public health director in Illinois, told CNN that one call was about use of a sinus rinse comprised of a detergent-based solution, while another was from someone who had gargled with mouthwash and bleach in an effort to kill the COVID-19 virus.

Trump's comments weren't the only factor in the increased number of calls. A recent CDC study found that U.S. poison control call centers had already noticed an increase in calls involving cleaners and disinfectants in March, compared with the previous two years. And the Washington Poison Center indicated a 23-percent increase in overall exposures to cleaners this year compared to last.

With U.S. call centers already overburdened and scrambling to move to a remote work model to ensure the safety of workers, the increase in calls is an unwelcome and unnecessary burden. It should go without saying that ingesting or injecting household cleaners is dangerous, and can result in organ failure and death.

Edited by Maurice Nagle