USA / COVID-19 +ve US Governor disinfects bill after signing; video viral

Colorado: A video of a governor in the United States of America signing a bill has caught the attention of people online after he was seen using a disinfectant to sanitise the papers. While the clip left many in splits, the governor’s attempt to keep it sterile failed to impress others.

In a very ‘2020 moment’, Colorado Governor Jared Polis was seen signing a bill and then spraying Lysol on it, as he remained in quarantine after testing positive for COVID-19. Polis and his partner tested positive for coronavirus just a few days before the Colorado General Assembly’s special session was summoned to pass necessary regulations to deal with Covid-19.

The Governor of Colorado is clearly a man of science. https://t.co/ekU1PQZKr5

— J.B. Handley (@GenRescue) December 5, 2020

The politician showed off how one should ideally go about signing time-sensitive legislation in quarantine. “Alright, Bill signing, COVID style,” Polis was heard saying in the video which was shared on his Twitter and Facebook accounts.

After he went into isolation, he said he would take extra steps to ensure that he could sign the bills as soon and as safely as possible. During one of his press conferences, he had joked about using Lysol on bills to prevent the infection from spreading, and it seems he followed it through. Polis later added that he handled them with gloves and arranged for a state trooper to courier them to the assembly.

As the footage started doing the rounds, while many hoped for his speedy recovery and quipped about his sense of humour, many pointed out that he should have worn a mask and gloves while handling the papers.

The bill that was signed into law allocates money to Colorado’s Emergency Response Fund, CBS Denver reported. A total of 10 bills from this week’s special session of the state legislature were headed to the governor’s desk waiting to be signed.

According to Colorado Politics, the bill’s goal is to pump $100 million more dollars into the state’s disaster emergency fund. After signing the bill, Polis immediately ordered $84.3 million to be moved over to the disaster fund.