'Clinical Judgment' Hospitalized Christie For COVID-19 Fight

NEW JERSEY - New Jersey Governor Chris Christie became one of the latest public officials connected to President Donald Trump to be hospitalized for the coronavirus this weekend. And medical professionals say "clinical judgment" factored into that decision.

A spokesperson for Atlantic Health, the group that owns Morristown Medical Center, confirmed to Patch on Monday that Christie was undergoing treatment.

“Every day thousands of people turn to us for care, and every patient we care for is carefully assessed by a physician to determine their clinical needs. Those determinations, including where care needs to take place, are based on their expert clinical judgment,” Atlantic Health said in a statement.

Christie said Saturday was feeling "good and only have mild symptoms," but he felt this was an "important precautionary measure" because of his history of asthma. In 2011, Christie was sent to Somerset Medical Center for tests after experiencing difficulty breathing while en route to a bill-signing ceremony.

Christie also had a phone conversation with Tim Moran of the Star Ledger Monday, who said in his column that Christie didn't want to share specifics of his health and treatment.

"But I can say this: He sounded raspy but didn’t cough once during the 10-minute chat. He said it’s scary, of course, and he’s fully aware that he’s a prime target for this virus, given his weight and a lifelong case of asthma that was bad enough to hospitalize him during one attack in 2011," Moran said.

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