Increase in Poisoning with Cleaners and Disinfectants During the COVID-19 Pandemic

For most people, one of the earliest and most tangible signs of the COVID-19 pandemic was a sudden shortage of hand sanitizer and cleaning materials. Now national poison center data suggest that toxic exposures to these substances have been increasing.

Using the National Poison Data System (which collects data from the nation's 55 poison centers), researchers compared exposures reported from January through March 2020 with those reported during the same months in 2018 and 2019. In 2020, there were approximately 45,500 calls for exposures to cleaners and disinfectants, with calls increasing sharply at the beginning of March (before the White House's controversial comments about disinfectants). Children <6 years old accounted for more than 40%…