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Former New Jersey Gov Chris Christie Talks About COVID-19 At Gov. DeWine's Briefing

Fmr. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie
Jo Ingles
Fmr. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie did debate prep with President Trump in Cleveland last month. A few days after the debate, he was hospitalized with COVID-19. Thursday, Christie made a special guest appearance in Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s coronavirus briefing to drive home a point DeWine has been making. 

Christie recently spent a week in the hospital, much of that time in the intensive care unit, battling COVID-19. He describes his experience as frightening. 

“I’m alive. I survived. It could have easily gone the other way and for 220,000 Americans it has. So, I just want to urge as many people as I can, ‘don’t let your guard down. It’s not worth it,'" Christie said.

Christie says he took off his mask at the White House Rose Garden where he was likely exposed to the virus because he had been assured testing made the environment safe. It turned out Christie wasn't the only one who attended that announcement of Judge Amy Coney Barrett as the latest Supreme Court nominee who came down ill after the event. More than a dozen attendees came down sick with COVID-19 in the following days.

Incidence chart
Credit Ohio Dept of Health
Incidence chart

Christie's appearance at Gov. DeWine's press conference comes on the same day that Ohio set a new record of COVID cases reported.  A total of 2,425 cases were reported in Ohio during the past day. Nine of the 10 highest days of new cases reported have occured this month.

Contact Jo Ingles at jingles@statehousenews.org.
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