NJ Gov. Murphy To Self-Quarantine After Possible COVID Exposure

CAMDEN COUNTY, NJ — Gov. Phil Murphy ran off the field at his daily coronavirus press conference Wednesday afternoon after revealing that "five minutes earlier" he learned he had been in close proximity Saturday night to someone who tested positive for the coronavirus. The governor said he will self-quarantine for five days, through the weekend.

"I was just informed by my colleagues that I was in close proximity to someone on Saturday who has just tested positive," said Murphy, speaking from the grounds of Camden County Community College, where the press conference was held.

Daniel Bryan, senior advisor to the governor for strategic communications, tested positive for COVID-19. He took the test out of an abundance of caution and remains asymptomatic, officials said.

The contact tracing process is underway, and anyone, including members of press, believed to have exposure as defined by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines will be notified, officials said.

Murphy and First Lady Tammy Murphy will be canceling their in-person events and voluntarily quarantining through the end of the weekend, said the governor's office in a statement. Each will take an additional COVID-19 test before they resume any in-person engagements.

Both Murphy and his wife took a test on Wednesday and it came back negative, officials said.

Prior to the surprise announcement, Murphy had been speaking from the podium without a mask. But when he came back to announce he had been in close proximity to that person, he was wearing a mask.

"I will now unfortunately have to take myself off the field," said the governor before dashing from the podium. "I can't ask President Trump not to come to Bedminster and do a fundraiser and have me sit here."

Murphy said he just learned of the positive diagnosis "just five minutes ago."

Watch Murphy make the revelation at the 23 minute mark:

Murphy said he first took a regularly scheduled, unrelated COVID test on Monday and it was negative.

"I have no symptoms. Again, I tested negative on Monday. But I gotta take myself at least off the field and get tested again today," said the governor. "As you all know, you gotta wait and see there wasn't any incubating."

Murphy then dashed off the podium and left the press conference.

The governor was holding the news conference with South Jersey Congressman Donald Norcross, announcing $14 million in additional Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act funding to develop workforce development programs.

The Camden County officials whom Murphy was close to Wednesday said they were not concerned about possible exposure.

"They are a contact of a contact at this point in time, and based on this afternoon’s test results, on top of the other precautions that include masking, social distancing and hand hygiene they feel confident that they were not exposed," said Camden County spokesman Dan Keashen.

Related: Gov. Murphy: Trump's Visit To NJ 'Wrong Decision At Every Level' (Oct. 5)

This article originally appeared on the Middletown Patch