How the government will 'thoroughly clean and disinfect' White House furniture, door knobs, and light switches after Trump leaves & Biden moves in businessinsider.com/biden-white-ho… by @rbravender & @leonardkl ($) @Politicsinsider
When a new president enters the White House, he typically takes a seat in the afternoon of Inauguration Day at the same Resolute Desk in the Oval Office that his predecessor used that morning.
Staffers swap out the last president's toothbrush in the executive residence for the new commander in chief while the inauguration ceremonies happen not too far away.
But this time the White House could be crawling with the coronavirus on Wednesday when the Biden administration moves in hours after President Donald Trump and his team leave.
The GSA, the agency responsible for maintaining federal buildings, is planning to "thoroughly clean and disinfect the building spaces between the administrations and ensure that everything is up to standard," an agency spokesperson told Insider in a statement.
GSA said it plans to clean "all furniture, flooring, window treatments, handrails, door knobs, light switches, countertops, elevator buttons, restroom fixtures and dispensers, door handles and push plates, and lighting fixtures" during the Trump-Biden handoff.
Despite the cleaning plans, the possibility for exposure to the virus in a White House that's connected to dozens of coronavirus cases is causing concern among some of the new president's allies.
"I've woken up a couple of times in the middle of the night thinking about this," said Nicole Lurie, who advised the Biden campaign on its coronavirus response and served as an assistant secretary for preparedness and response at HHS during the Obama administration.
"The last thing one wants to do is turn Inauguration Day into a superspreader event," Lurie told @Politicsinsider
In a typical transition, it takes about six hours to move the old president out and the new one in, said Gary Walters, who was the White House chief usher under four presidents from 1986 to 2007.
The new first family typically arrives at the residence by 5 or 6 p.m., after the inaugural parade, Walters said. By then, he added, "toiletries are in the bathrooms, and bedding has been changed to their desire, and everything is taken care of."
The new president can even expect to find his toothbrush in place by the bathroom sink, Walters said.
Lots more about the White House handoff in this fun story for @businessinsider subscribers. Here's how to sign up: businessinsider.com/subscription
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