(CDC MMWR) NEW YORK - Poison control hotlines around the U.S. reported a 20% increase in calls related to exposure to household cleaners and disinfectants in the first quarter of the year compared to the same period in 2019, the CDC said.
Although the agency stopped short of entirely pinning the increase on the efforts by Americans to clean their homes out of fear the coronavirus, the number of daily calls to poison centers "increased sharply" in the beginning of March, which tracks with the growth of COVID-19 cases and health warnings. "Although a casual association cannot be demonstrated, the timing of these reported exposures correspond to increased media coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic, reports of consumer shortages of cleaning and