Murphy On Christie: 'He Is The Quintessential Jersey Fighter'

NEW JERSEY - They may be polar opposites in political and personal style, but current Gov. Phil Murphy had nothing but positive things to say about former Governor Chris Christie as he battles a COVID-19 infection at Morristown Medical Center.

"I exchanged notes with Governor Christie last night. I shot him a note and I have no further insight than that," Murphy said at Thursday's COVID-19 briefing. "Just to say we are here for him, and he was very gracious in his reply."

Murphy also noted that Christie remains in his prayers as does Christie's family and everyone battling COVID-19.

"But he is a fighter," Murphy said. "Let there can be no doubt about it. He is the quintessential Jersey fighter. We're all with him in thoughts, prayers, and we're here to do anything we can for him."

Christie's battle with COVID-19 continues at Morristown Medical Center where he has been since the weekend. Christie became one of the latest public officials connected to President Donald Trump to be hospitalized for the coronavirus this weekend. And medical professionals said "clinical judgment" factored into that decision.

Various reporters took to Twitter to seek answers to his condition on Wednesday.

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 Tom 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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