Coronavirus Pandemic

N.J. Gov. Phil Murphy tests positive for COVID-19

Murphy is currently asymptomatic and feeling well, and will cancel in-person events and isolate for the next five days.

Nick Kariuki
P. Kenneth Burns

March 31, 2022

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy wears a mask during a coronavirus news conference in Trenton, N.J. (Chris Pedota/The Record via AP, Pool)

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy has tested positive for the coronavirus, his office revealed on Thursday.

“This afternoon, as part of a regularly-scheduled testing regime, Governor Murphy took a rapid antigen test that came back positive for COVID-19,” Murphy’s communications director Mahen Gunaratna wrote in a news release. “He subsequently took a PCR test, which also came back positive.”

Gunaratna added that Murphy is currently asymptomatic and feeling well.

The Governor will cancel in-person events, isolate for the next five days, and monitor symptoms before taking an additional PCR test.

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This is not the first time that the governor had a COVID scare. His wife, Tammy, tested positive for the coronavirus earlier this year. She too was asymptomatic.

He also isolated nearly two years ago, after a close senior staff member was infected, out of an abundance of caution.

Murphy will still be attending Thursday night’s live, monthly call-in show, “Ask Governor Murphy”, via Zoom. The show, presented by WHYY, WBGO, and WNYC, airs at 7 p.m. on 90.9 WHYY-FM.

“The Governor has diligently taken precautions to limit the spread of COVID-19 and encourages everyone eligible to get vaccinated and boosted, as he has done, to protect themselves and their loved ones from the virus,” Gunaratna wrote.

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