Cristina Cuomo is the founder of the health and wellness blog The Purist. She is also the wife of CNN’s Chris Cuomo. She is recovering from the coronavirus and has been blogging about her experience with COVID-19.

She, her husband, and their 14-year-old son have all been battling the virus recently. I don’t wish that on anyone. Fortunately, Chris Cuomo has recovered and Cristina is doing well in her recovery. Her blog features her suggestions for fighting the coronavirus, though she does recommend that everyone consult a doctor before trying anything. She’s not being irresponsible in her recommendations, as a non-medical professional, but let’s just say her approach is not a traditional one.

One of Cristina’s recommendations is to bath in Clorox bleach. She pours a 1/2 cup of Clorox bleach into her bathwater to “combat the radiation and metals in my system and oxygenate it.” She is careful to caution only a 1/2 cup should be used, no more.

“We want to neutralize heavy metals because they slow-up the electromagnetic frequency of our cells, which is our energy field, and we need a good flow of energy,” Cuomo explains.

She adds there is “no danger in doing this,” comparing it to “a simple naturopathic treatment.”

Here’s the part that caught my attention, besides the bleach thing. The media has ignored this story. Why? Cristina Cuomo had the good fortune of making a health care recommendation about using bleach the same day that President Trump went off on his tangent about disinfectants and sunshine during his coronavirus task force press briefing. It was last Thursday and the press went berserk over what amounted to the president thinking out loud and asking questions to the medical experts present that day. She actually came out with her health tip before the press briefing. As the media made the president’s off-hand remarks their focus for several days afterward, Cristina escaped the same scrutiny and criticism.

Cuomo isn’t dumb. She saw what was happening to the president. Trump wasn’t even making recommendations, he was just saying out loud what he was thinking while the press watched and listened to him. Cristina Cuomo was actually making a recommendation. So, she made adjustments to her blog post. She added the part about checking with a doctor first and also the instruction to “ONLY” use 1/2 cup of bleach.

While the internet was distracted, The Purist logged back on. A newer version of the blog entry includes the caveat that one should check with a doctor before carrying out any of the post’s recommendations. She also added the word “ONLY” after her Clorox measurement suggestion to underscore the importance of not poisoning oneself, and quoted the person who recommended it, Linda Lancaster of Light Harmonics in New Mexico, at length.

The Vanity Fair article also points out that her blog post introduction now includes a different introduction and, as a deflection from criticism, she adds a quote from Martin Luther King Jr. Sometimes even liberal publications like Vanity Fair surprise me when they stumble upon the truth about someone on the left. Cristina is hailed as an enlightened woman while Trump is dogged as a moron.

The post’s introduction, too, now reads, “The point of sharing my story is to help people become aware of the various options that are available beyond the overstrained medical system and to give a voice to the scientific advances that could have real impact on our collective health. Sharing new knowledge is not elitist, it’s revolutionary.”

She also quoted a Martin Luther King Jr. sermon about peace to deflect criticism, as well as a cliché that she attributes to her brother-in-law: “‘Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that,’ said Martin Luther King Jr. And, as our trusted New York Governor said, ‘Love wins.’”

The Clorox website is definitely not in agreement with Cristina’s recommendation and states that.

The official Clorox website disagrees, stressing that their bleach “is NOT recommended for personal hygiene of any kind–consumers should always avoid direct skin and eye contacts with both undiluted bleach, as well as prolonged contact with the various bleach solutions we recommend for household cleaning and laundry … using a bleach and water solution for bathing is not approved by the EPA and should not be done.”

Just the thought of the harsh chemicals in bleach being added to bathwater was enough for me to take note. Surely it must be really hard on the skin. Depending on how diluted it is with the amount of water in the bathtub, it has the potential to dry out or irritate human skin. Some doctors have weighed in on bleach baths.

Hasbrouck says soaking in a Clorox bath can do harm to the body: “Where’s the harm going to come? Just the abrasiveness of the chemical on your skin.”

He says the suggested remedy doesn’t make sense for several reasons, including the fact that the bleach doesn’t have a clear path of getting through your skin to the virus. And don’t even think about drinking bleach – it’s unsafe and “is not going to get to your respiratory system,” says Hasbrouk.

Dr. Jose Luis Ocampo, a board-certified emergency medicine physician at Kaiser Permanente in Baldwin Park, California, also urges the public to use caution.

“As a physician, I would never recommend something that was not proven efficacious and safe for patients to use or do,” Ocampo tells USA TODAY. “As such, I have never recommended Clorox baths as my knowledge of its medicinal use and safety is limited. While bleach baths have been used to treat eczema, for example, it must be done carefully and should always be done in consultation with a physician.”

The FDA warns against ingesting disinfectants, saying consumption of “products can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and symptoms of severe dehydration.”

There are other recommendations that Cuomo makes that are reasonable. Some are unusual. All are non-traditional for western medicine and that’s ok. I don’t fault her on going down a holistic path. I do it myself when possible. It is noteworthy, though, that the media gives her a pass because she is one of them, so to speak. She’s a liberal and she’s married to a CNN guy. She’s a blogger so that puts her in the spotlight, too. She is given a platform on cable news, too, according to Vanity Fair though I haven’t seen her interviews. It’s the bleach that gets attention because it can be compared to what the president said.

There was a paragraph on borrowing a “body charger” from a friend on the advice of an energy specialist. She wrote that it sends “electrical frequencies through the body to oxygenate blood and stimulate the healthy production of blood cells to fortify my immune system.” She wrote that she ordered an at-home I.V.

Vitamin drips are not anything new to the wealthy and privileged. The body charger is new to me. She shouldn’t be criticized just because her husband is a public figure, nor should she be given a pass as she puts herself into the fray.