New Jersey Governor Quarantines After Staff Member Tests Positive

(Bloomberg) -- New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy is in quarantine as a precaution, with two senior staff members testing positive for Covid-19.

Michael DeLamater, a deputy chief of staff for intergovernmental affairs, is quarantining at home with mild symptoms. Dan Bryan, a senior communications adviser to Murphy, subsequently tested positive and is asymptomatic, according to the governor’s office.

Murphy, 63, announced the first Covid result on Wednesday afternoon after returning to the stage midway through a press conference in southern New Jersey about a workforce development initiative. Murphy said he had no symptoms of the virus, which has killed more than 14,000 people in the state.

“I was just informed by my colleagues that I was in close proximity to someone on Saturday who has just tested positive.” he announced. “I will now unfortunately have to take myself off the field.”

The governor said he and and his wife, Tammy Murphy, would quarantine through the weekend.

DeLamater, reached via email, declined to comment.

New Jersey reported its first coronavirus case on March 4, the same day that Murphy had surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from his kidney. Murphy, a first-term Democrat, canceled plans to take a month off to recover, instead holding daily virus press briefings for months.

The governor received a coronavirus test on Monday as part of a regularly scheduled testing regime, which came back negative, according to a statement from Mahen Gunaratna, Murphy’s communications director. Murphy and his wife were also tested Wednesday afternoon, and both tests came back negative. They will each take an additional test before resuming any in-person engagements, Gunaratna said.

“The contact tracing process is underway, and anyone, including members of press, believed to have exposure as defined by CDC guidelines will be notified,” according to a subsequent statement from the governor’s office.

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