Chris Christie: 'Wear a Mask'

Former New Jersey governor talks about what he learned from COVID-19
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 16, 2020 12:50 AM CDT
Christie: 'I Was Wrong Not to Wear a Mask'
In this Nov. 29, 2017, file photo, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie speaks during a news conference in Newark, NJ.   (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)

Chris Christie isn't hedging: He tells the New York Times outright that he should have worn a mask at the White House, where he is believed to have contracted COVID-19. He says the same in a statement: "I believed, when I entered the White House grounds, that I had entered a safe zone, due to the testing that I and many others underwent every day. I was wrong. I was wrong not to wear a mask at the Amy Coney Barrett announcement and I was wrong not to wear a mask at my multiple debate prep sessions with the president and the rest of the team. I hope that my experience shows my fellow citizens that you should follow CDC guidelines in public no matter where you are." Trump, asked about Christie's comments at his town hall, said, per NBC News, "Well, I mean he has to say that. I think it's great, he's a friend of mine, he's a good guy, and wrong or not wrong, you have to understand, as president, I can't be locked in a room someplace for the next year and just stay and do nothing."

Christie tells the Times that for the Sept. 26 Rose Garden event, he was told everyone seated in the first three rows, where he sat, had tested negative that day. "I shouldn’t have relied on that," he says. Christie, who was released from the hospital Oct. 10 after seven days in the ICU and has since been cleared for contact with other people, was given blood thinners, remdesivir, and the experimental antibody cocktail Eli Lilly is working on (that drug trial has recently been paused). He says he's still fatigued, but that the early days after his diagnosis were much worse, and that the public should take the coronavirus "very seriously." However, he said the country needs to find a balance: We should reopen, but "every public official, regardless of party or position, should advocate for every American to wear a mask in public, appropriately socially distance and to wash your hands frequently every day." (More Chris Christie stories.)

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