THE WISCONSIN SENATOR ONCE AGAIN GETS CAUGHT LYING

 

…This caricature of Senator Johnson is probably more accurate as many others see him

 

This time, his lies could cause deaths of his constituents

 

I know it’s hard to believe, but Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) recommended mouthwash as a treatment for the coronavirus during a town hall meeting.  This immediately drew major criticism for suggesting gargling would offer any protection.

This isn’t the first time this  senator has been criticized for spreading conspiracy theories about the coronavirus.  He has also promoted the use of other drugs that have shown little to no evidence that they are effective in treating covid-19. YouTube this year even suspended his account for violating the company’s medical misinformation policies.  He has also expressed skepticism about the efficacy of coronavirus vaccine mandates and doses, which have undergone vigorous health testing.

His latest remarks run up against medical advice from a major producer of mouthwash (Listerine) and other health experts.

“Standard gargle, mouthwash, has been proven to kill the coronavirus,” Johnson said: “If you get it, you may reduce viral replication. Why not try all these things?”  This is of course, major misinformation.

Johnson later shared on Twitter a questionable study on a public website that concluded mouthwash provides “modest benefits” in lowering viral loads in saliva. That study recruited 176 adults who had tested positive for the virus but were asymptomatic or only showing mild symptoms.

Though mouthwash can partially kill off parts of the coronavirus in a person’s mouth, most Covid-19 infections occur through the nose. “Even if gargling kills some of the virus, it won’t be able to clean the nasal area, nor the viruses that’s already penetrated deeper into the body,” said Kim Woo-Joo, an infectious-disease expert at Korea University.

“We’re looking at how [mouthwash] actually works on the virus itself rather than what it does to the body. I think those are two separate questions,” Nicholas Rowan, an ear, nose and throat surgeon and assistant professor at Johns Hopkins Medicine, told The Washington Post.

 

Raymond Niaura, interim chair of the Epidemiology Department at New York University, said that gargling wouldn’t hurt, if also accompanied by vaccination.

“That way, one would be at reduced risk for infection and have good smelling breath,” he wrote in an email.

A dental-professional-focused website run by Listerine, one of the world’s most widely used mouthwash products, specifically says the evidence is not strong enough to conclude that it is helpful against covid-19.

Listerine “is not intended to prevent or treat COVID-19 and should be used only as directed on the product label,” the website notes in Bold print.

As expected, the senator could not be immediately reached for comment.

Johnson, like many other conservative Republicans, has backed the use of ivermectin as a treatment for covid-19. As expected, there is little evidence that the drug, normally used on humans and livestock as an anti-parasitic, that it works against Covid 19.

The Food and Drug Administration has warned people against using ivermectin to fight the coronavirus, saying such actions could prove lethal. “You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y’all. Stop it,” the agency actually Tweeted in August.

Johnson also supported the use of hydroxychloroquine, a drug that was hyped as a potential answer to the coronavirus by President Donald Trump last year.  Again, he was totally wrong.

Numerous studies and health experts have advised against using hydroxychloroquine, particularly when vaccines and, increasingly, other therapeutics are readily available in the United States. In June 2020, a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that hydroxychloroquine was no more effective than a placebo, in this case, a vitamin, in protecting people who had been exposed to the coronavirus.

Ron Johnson has become a serious Trump supporter.  He should be considered as a serious supporter of Trump in the 2024 election.

Copyright G. Ater 2021