Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said he was released from the hospital Saturday morning following treatment for the coronavirus.
“I am happy to let you know that this morning I was released from Morristown Medical Center. I want to thank the extraordinary doctors & nurses who cared for me for the last week. Thanks to my family & friends for their prayers. I will have more to say about all of this next week,” the former Republican governor tweeted Saturday.
He tested positive for Covid-19 last Saturday – a day after President Donald Trump announced he and first lady Melania had tested positive for the virus.
Christie, who is overweight and asthmatic, checked himself into Morristown Medical Center as a precautionary measure. He remained under doctors’ observations for the week and was prescribed the anti-viral drug remdesivir.
He had helped Trump prepare for the first presidential debate; no one wore masks during the debate preparation sessions. He had also attended a Supreme Court nomination ceremony for Judge Amy Coney Barrett on September 26, now believed to have been a superspreader event.
Before his positive diagnosis on October 3, Christie had said on Twitter he last tested negative for Covid-19 on September 29.
Christie’s discharge from the hospital came hours ahead of Trump’s planned event Saturday, in which he is expected to deliver remarks from a White House balcony.
The President invited some 2,000 people to attend the speech, despite the US seeing an upward trend in coronavirus hospitalization rates and Trump’s acknowledgment during a televised interview with Fox News on Friday that he may have contracted the virus at one of the recent events at the White House.
The President’s decision to resume public events nine days after his positive diagnosis, and with his level of contagion unclear, could further put his staff and aides at risk.
Christie is one of more than a dozen people who have spent time near the President or around the White House in recent days who has tested positive for Covid-19.
This story has been updated with additional background information.
CNN’s Dana Bash contributed to this report.
