N.J. gov leaves press chat and isolates after aide gets virus
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy abruptly left an outdoor press conference Wednesday after learning that a member of his senior staff tested positive for COVID-19.
Murphy was speaking at the Camden County Community College quad to announce millions of dollars in federal funding for workforce development programs when he learned of the possible exposure.
Halfway through the event, the governor came back to the podium with a mask on to announce that he was leaving to self-quarantine.
“I was just informed by my colleagues that I was in close proximity to someone on Saturday who has just tested positive,” Murphy said during the livestreamed event.
A spokesman later said both Gov. Murphy and First Lady Tammy Murphy tested negative for the virus Wednesday afternoon but would be “canceling their in-person events and voluntarily quarantining through the end of the weekend.”
The senior staff member who came down with coronavirus was also quarantining at home, the spokesman said.
“We have begun the contact tracing process to notify everyone who may have come into contact with our colleague during the potential infection window,” said Communications Director Mahen Gunaratna.
Murphy explained at the event that he tested negative on Monday but would “unfortunately have to take myself off the field.”
“I can’t ask President Trump not to come to Bedminster and do a fundraiser and have me sit here,” he said.
Murphy has criticized the president’s decision to hold an Oct. 1 fundraiser at the Nre Jersey golf club as “reckless,” given that the White House knew at the time that Trump senior aide Hope Hicks had just been diagnosed with COVID-19.
Trump announced his own COVID-19 diagnosis hours later and was flown to Walter Reed Medical Center for treatment.
New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania have all seen small upticks in COVID-19 cases.
But Gov. Cuomo said people traveling from those neighboring states would not have to quarantine in New York because there’s “no practical way” to enforce the travel advisory.