Chris Christie was released from a New Jersey hospital on Saturday, a week after he was admitted following a positive COVID-19 test. Christie, who made the announcement on Twitter, has been quiet on social media since he began treatment last weekend.
“I am happy to let you know that this morning I was released from Morristown Medical Center,” Christie tweeted Saturday. “I want to thank the extraordinary doctors & nurses who cared for me for the last week. Thanks to my family & friends for their prayers. I will have more to say about all of this next week.”
The former New Jersey Governor is one of several people in Trump’s orbit to test positive for COVID-19 after attending a Rose Garden event on September 26 where the president announced the nomination of Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has since described it as a “super spreader” event.
“We had a super-spreader event in the White House and it was in a situation where people were crowded together and were not wearing masks. So the data speak for themselves,” Fauci said.
Christie also notably helped Mr. Trump with debate preparation, spending hours with him over several days leading up to the first presidential debate, which was held a few days before Christie and Mr. Trump announced they tested positive for the virus.
Christie was admitted to the hospital hours after announcing he had tested positive for COVID-19.
“I just received word that I am positive for COVID-19,” Christie tweeted last Saturday, October. 3. “I want to thank all of my friends and colleagues who have reached out to ask how I was feeling in the last day or two. I will be receiving medical attention today and will keep the necessary folks apprised of my condition.”
“While I am feeling good and only have mild symptoms, due to my history of asthma we decided this is an important precautionary measure,” Christie wrote. “I am thankful for our hardworking medical professionals and look forward to coming home soon.”
According to the White House, President Trump tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday, October 1. He was admitted to Walter Reed Medical Center the next day, and released back to the White House four days later.
President Trump is scheduled to hold his first public event since testing positive on Saturday. He plans to speak from the South Lawn balcony about “law and order,” in what the White House is calling a “peaceful protest” expected to draw hundreds of people.
The medications used in the president’s treatment plan are suggestive of a severe COVID-19 infection, prompting several doctors who spoke to CBS News to advise that he continue to recuperate at the White House.
The White House has not released the president’s chest X-rays or CT scans, making it impossible for physicians outside his medical team to evaluate the full picture of the president’s health. How long the president needs to isolate, however, depends on the severity of his infection.
Dr. Ethan Weiss, a cardiologist at the University of California, San Francisco, who went to New York to treat critically ill COVD-19 patients during the city’s surge last spring, said the lack of information makes it impossible to accurately track the timeline of the president’s illness.
“There are some things to suggest that he had severe COVID, the problem is that we don’t know, and we don’t know when he first got sick,” Weiss said. “We don’t know when to start the clock.”
“The problem with this case is the information is incomplete at best, and inaccurate at worst,” he said.
