Murphy to self-quarantine after exposure to COVID-positive patient (updated)

Gov. Phil Murphy and his office said he will self-quarantine through the weekend after exposure on Saturday to someone who tested positive for COVID-19 this week.

“I will now, unfortunately, have to take myself off the field,” Murphy said in the middle of a press announcement at Camden County College in Blackwood, prompting him to immediately leave the event less than an hour into it.

“I’ve got to go take myself at least off the field and go and get tested today,” the governor added. “I can’t ask President Trump not to come to Bedminster and do a fundraiser and have me sit here.”

According to the governor’s office, Murphy was in physical contact with Deputy Chief of Staff for Intergovernmental Affairs Mike Delamater, who tested positive for the virus.

Contact tracing efforts have begun “to notify everyone who may have come into contact with our colleague during the potential infection window,” said Mahen Gunaratna, communications director for governor’s office.

“Out of an abundance of caution and in line with the highest levels of commitment to protecting public health, the governor and First Lady will be canceling their in-person events and voluntarily quarantining through the end of the weekend, and each will take an additional COVID-19 test before they resume any in-person engagements,” Gunaratna said in a Wednesday afternoon statement.

In April, Murphy’s then-chief counsel Matt Platkin tested positive for COVID-19, though he ultimately recovered.

The governor said he tested negative on Monday for COVID-19,  and a test Wednesday on the governor and First Lady Tammy Murphy came back negative, Gunaratna said.

Murphy was originally scheduled to have a press briefing on Thursday afternoon on the status of the spread of COVID-19 in New Jersey, but it is not immediately clear whether Lt. Gov. Sheila Oliver would attend in his place.

Should Murphy become incapacitated, Oliver will assume his duties as acting governor, which occurred in March when the governor had surgery to remove a tumor from his kidney.

He’s warned that the incubation period of the virus means that despite a negative test, a person could still carry the virus, and as such needs to self-quarantine for 14 days.

“If I was with someone Saturday night and you got tested Sunday morning that doesn’t really tell you a lot, you’ve got to wait and see to make sure there wasn’t anything incubating,” Murphy said.

The governor was highly critical of Trump for attending the fundraiser at the start of October, just hours before he announced his COVID-19 positive test.

Editor’s Note: This article was updated on Oct. 21, 2020 at 2:40 p.m. EST to include remarks from the governor’s office. It was updated again at 3:49 p.m. EST to provide the identity of the staff member of the governor’s office who tested positive for COVID-19.