TRENTON, N.J. — Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said he has been discharged from a New Jersey hospital on Saturday, following his announcement that he had contracted COVID-19. 

What You Need To Know

  • Former N.J. Gov. Chris Christie announced Saturday that he was discharged from the hospital

  • Christie spent a week in the hospital after announcing that he had tested positive for coronavirus

  • Christie, who has asthma, was in attendance at the White House Rose Garden ceremony on Sept. 26 where President Trump announced the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court

  • Christie also helped Trump prepare for the first presidential debate in Cleveland

Christie spent a week in the hospital after announcing that he had tested positive for coronavirus.

“I am happy to let you know that this morning I was released from Morristown Medical Center,” Christie said in a Saturday morning post on Twitter. “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.”

 

 

 

Christie announced Oct. 3 that he had tested positive and said hours later that he had checked himself into the hospital after deciding with his doctors that doing so would be “an important precautionary measure,” given his history of asthma.

Christie was part of a string of virus cases connected to President Donald Trump’s inner circle. Christie was in attendance at the White House Rose Garden ceremony on Sept. 26 where President Trump announced the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court.

A number of people at that event contracted COVID-19, including President Trump, first lady Melania Trump, former White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, and two Republican Senators: Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC).

Trump’s former 2016 rival told The Associated Press on Oct. 2 that the last time he was with the president was Sept. 29 in Cleveland during preparations for his debate with former Vice President Joe Biden. He tweeted the morning of Oct. 2 that he had last tested negative ahead of that first presidential debate and was not having any symptoms then.

In 2013, during Christie’s first term as New Jersey governor, he underwent lap-band surgery and lost a significant amount of weight. Two years before that, he was hospitalized for difficulty breathing. The 58-year-old, who uses an inhaler, once called himself “the healthiest fat guy you’ve ever seen.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.