Trump directed experts to see if UV light can kill coronavirus. Here are the facts
President Donald Trump said during a White House coronavirus task force briefing on Thursday that experts should test if UV and sunlight can treat COVID-19.
“Suppose that we hit the body with a tremendous, whether it’s ultraviolet or just very powerful light,” Trump said during the briefing. “Supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or in some other way.”
Trump then asked Dr. Deborah Birx, the federal government’s coronavirus response coordinator, if light or heat could cure coronavirus. “Not as a treatment,” she said.
“I think it’s a great thing to look at,” Trump said.
What health experts say about light and coronavirus
The World Health Organization says exposure to sun and heat doesn’t protect against COVID-19.
“You can catch COVID-19, no matter how sunny or hot the weather is. Countries with hot weather have reported cases of COVID-19,” the WHO says. “To protect yourself, make sure you clean your hands frequently and thoroughly and avoid touching your eyes, mouth, and nose.”
The WHO also warned against using UV light: “UV lamps should not be used to sterilize hands or other areas of skin as UV radiation can cause skin irritation.”
How UV light works
There are three types of ultraviolet light: UVA, which can cause eye damage and burn your skin, UVB, which ages and burns skin, and UVC, which can destroy genetic material, Juan Leon, a virologist, told NPR. The sun’s UVC rays don’t reach humans because they’re filtered through the atmosphere, NPR reported.
“Right now, there is no data on whether the UVA rays of the sun can inactivate this coronavirus,” Leon told NPR. Research on SARS shows that UVA light exposure for 15 minutes didn’t reduce the virus’ infectivity, Leon said.
Artificial UVC light has been used to disinfect equipment in certain settings, but you shouldn’t try to use UV light to disinfect your skin, according to NPR.
“Ultraviolet is able to kill COVID-19 if it is exposed to the concentrated UV ray in a certain amount of time and distance,” Pokrath Hansasuta, an assistant professor of virology in Chulalongkorn University’s Department of Microbiology, told Agence France-Presse. “However, that level of UV exposure is harmful to human’s skin.”
This story was originally published April 24, 2020 at 9:21 AM with the headline "Trump directed experts to see if UV light can kill coronavirus. Here are the facts."