A study from the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene found that at least 800 people died in the first three months of 2020 because of false information that claimed drinking bleach could cure coronavirus. Almost 6,000 people were also hospitalized because of that claim, Business Insider previously reported.
Parinda Warikarn, a doctor in New York, told The Times she saw a patient who ingested bleach because he thought it would prevent the virus.
"He clearly really believed that he was going to prevent Covid," she said. "Luckily, his wife and two young children didn't take this solution."
Dr. Howard Mell, an emergency room physician in Illinois told The Times that the wife of a patient who died from the novel coronavirus yelled at him for writing COVID-19 on the man's death certificate and accused him of doing it for profit.
"She yelled, 'We've seen online how you guys get more money,'" Mell said.
Mell told The Times he deals with several patients each week who strongly believe false information they read online.