Here’s the good news — and perhaps the only good news — coming out of President Donald Trump’s trip to Bedminster last Thursday at Trump National Golf Course: There’s no evidence the fundraiser has become a super-spreader event.
The bad news? It’s still too early to rule it out completely.
“It could be days,” Gov. Phil Murphy said on CBS This Morning. “This virus takes a number of days to incubate. So, the notion that, ‘Hey, I got a test after I heard this and it came back negative so I can go on my merry way, that’s not how this works.’ ”
Murphy said all those at the fundraiser need to quarantine. No exceptions.
“Anybody who was associated with that fundraiser, regardless of where they live, has got to take themselves off the field,” he said.
Contact tracing is underway for more than 200 people who may have been exposed to the coronavirus at a New Jersey fundraiser for President Trump last week.
New Jersey’s @GovMurphy responds to the decision to hold the Bedminster event and how his state is handling the visit. pic.twitter.com/TEc7cbaK2d
— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) October 5, 2020
Murphy, making the rounds on the morning talk shows Monday, said this — while expressing a mix of dismay and outrage that the trip even took place at all.
It’s unclear if the president knew he had contracted COVID-19 before making the trip. Murphy didn’t hedge.
“The virus doesn’t care who you are. New Jersey doesn’t care who you are,” he said. “A group of folks, out of state, coming in knowingly having been exposed to someone who’s COVID-positive is really, really frustrating.”
Murphy said the state began contact tracing almost immediately, saying it got a list by mid-afternoon on Friday.
Murphy said he did not get a heads up on the trip, but that the trip should not have taken place.
“Nobody should have come to New Jersey,” he said. “That trip should have been canceled.”
The fundraiser, which included an indoor VIP reception, astounded Murphy — especially after all the state has been through.
“It’s really frustrating; there’s no other way to put it,” he said. “We have paid an enormous price in New Jersey with COVID. We’ve lost over 14,000 people, we’ve gotten things largely under control, but we’re dealing with our own spikes inside of our four walls.”
He added: “The trip itself was the wrong decision at every level.”
Murphy also appeared on CNN ‘New Day’ and CNBC’s ‘Squawk Box.’
New Jersey @GovMurphy calls for federal cooperation on contact tracing after President Trump’s fundraiser.
“The staff all live in New Jersey even though the attendees were from around the country,” he said. “It’s an all-in moment…we need everyone to punch at their weight here” pic.twitter.com/51YpVLrRbq— New Day (@NewDay) October 5, 2020
