Polis Says He’s Offended By Comparisons Of His Stay-At-Home Order To Nazism

Gov. Jared Polis gets emotional Wednesday, April 15, 2020, during a news update on COVID-29 response.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
Gov. Jared Polis gets emotional Wednesday, April 15, 2020, during a news update on COVID-19 response.

Gov. Jared Polis became emotional during a COVID-19 news update on Wednesday after a reporter said some people on the Western Slope have compared his stay-at-home order to Nazism. 

The Governor is a Jewish-American who said he lost family during the Holocaust. 

“I’m offended by any comparison to Nazism,” he said as his voice cracked. “We act to save lives. The exact opposite of the slaughter of 6 million Jews and many gypsies and Catholics and gays and lesbians and Russians and so many others."

Polis encouraged people to continue to stay at home and said he understands the stay-at-home order is difficult. It’s not a contest to see what people can get away with, he said. Not following the order only delays the economic impact COVID-19 has had on Coloradans and risks the virus spreading to more people. 

More than 800 hospitalized patients have recovered from the new coronavirus in Colorado and 348 people have died