(Bloomberg) -- Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, on the mend from Covid-19 after a weeklong hospitalization, said he was wrong not to wear a mask when he visited the White House. He urged people to take steps to prevent infection.
Christie, who attended the Amy Coney Barrett announcement and helped President Donald Trump prepare for his debate with Democratic candidate Joe Biden, said he learned from his experience with the virus that “you should follow CDC guidelines in public no matter where you are.”
“I am happy and fortunate to inform you that I have recovered from Covid-19,” Christie, 58, said Thursday in an emailed statement. “When you have seven days in isolation in an ICU, though, you have time to do a lot of thinking.”
Christie is overweight and has asthma, factors that pose higher risk for those with the virus. He thanked the manufacturer of Remdesivir, which is Gilead Sciences Inc., and Eli Lilly & Co. for its monoclonal antibody treatment.
The statement was a rare show of humility for Christie, a Republican whose bombast and penchant for name-calling and what he called straight talk won him fans in New Jersey and beyond. He ended his 2016 race for president and became an on-again-off-again adviser to Trump, most recently helping with debate prep prior to the Nov. 3 general election.
Christie said that he had considered the White House grounds “a safe zone.”
At a Sept. 26 outdoor reception for Barrett, Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Christie said that he was told that everyone around him had tested negative for the virus. Several attendees, including Trump, later tested positive, although it’s not clear where they caught it.
“No one should be happy to get the virus and no one should be cavalier about being infected or infecting others,” Christie said.
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