The governor of Nairobi is putting Hennessy in residents' coronavirus care packages

Bottles of cognac.
(Image credit: GEORGES GOBET/AFP via Getty Images)

Alongside household staples like hand sanitizer, maize, rice, and diapers, residents of Nairobi will be receiving small bottles of Hennessy cognac in their government-issued coronavirus care packages, CNN reports. Mike Sonko, the governor of the Kenyan capital, justified the distribution of Hennessy by calling it a "throat sanitizer" and falsely claiming it is "believed that alcohol plays a major role in killing the coronavirus."

Experts, though, say drinking alcohol can actually make your immune system weaker, and leave you more vulnerable to contracting COVID-19. "Please completely ignore clowning of a major global pandemic taking lives & putting extreme pressure on households," tweeted Githinji Gitahi, the CEO of Amref Health Africa. "Dump [the Hennessy] the way you would dump your used #COVID19 #mask — never to be recovered!"

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Hennessy additionally urged home-remedy seekers not to chug cognac, telling Nairobi News in a statement that, alas, "the consumption of our brand or any other alcoholic beverage does not protect against the virus."

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Jeva Lange

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.