Murphy leaves event after learning of possible COVID-19 exposure

GLOUCESTER TOWNSHIP — Gov. Phil Murphy said he was getting a coronavirus test for the second time this week after learning Wednesday that he recently had been in close contact with someone who tested positive for the virus.

Murphy was attending an outdoor news conference at Camden County College when he interrupted the event to announce that he was taking himself “off the field.”

“I can’t ask President Trump not to come to Bedminster and do a fundraiser and then sit here,” Murphy said, referring to the event last month where the president visited supporters at his golf club hours before he announced that he had tested positive for COVID-19. While dozens of people connected to Trump and the White House contracted the virus this fall, no outbreak has been linked to the Bedminster fundraiser.

Murphy, who usually takes off his face mask to speak at a microphone, kept it on for this announcement. He said he is not experiencing symptoms and that he came back negative after taking a test on Monday. During a news conference on Monday, he said that the test had provided results in 15 minutes.

Murphy said Wednesday that the person who tested positive had been in “close proximity” to him on Saturday night. He did not say who it was.

Murphy said the incubation period of the virus means that a test taken a day or two after exposure may not be accurate.

Murphy had been with U.S. Rep. Donald Norcross, D-N.J. 1st District, to announced $14 million in Coronavirus Relief Funds to support workforce development programs.

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