Immediately after his optional mask campaign rally in Arizona, President Donald Trump will not follow Phil Murphy’s new 14-day quarantine mandate when he travels to his private golf club in Bedminster on Friday, the White House said.
“The President of the United States is not a civilian,” White House spokesman Judd Deere said in response to a Wednesday question from NJ Advance Media.
He said that anyone who approaches the president, including staff, guests and the press, is screened for the coronavirus.
The president’s visit is expected to come days after Murphy directed state visitors to see an increase in coronavirus cases, including Arizona, to be quarantined for 14 days to curb the spread in New Jersey, which It is still in the process of reopening.
“With regard to Arizona, the White House followed its COVID mitigation plan to ensure that the President did not come into contact with anyone who was symptomatic or who had not been examined,” Deere said.
Murphy on Wednesday night said Trump is not included in his order.
“There is a separation for essential workers and I believe, by any definition, the President of the United States is an essential worker,” the governor said on CNN. “And I know that people try themselves around him all the time. I have been tested a few times when I have been with him in the past few months. “
While New Jersey has been in steady decline since the peak of the outbreak in April, the United States reached its largest single-day increase on Wednesday since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
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The increase in cases elsewhere forced Murphy, along with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont to announce the travel notice, which applies to Arizona and eight other states, and will enter effective Wednesday midnight.
“We have been hit by this virus. No region in this country has paid a higher price, “Murphy said during a joint appearance by the governors. “This is a smart thing to do. We have taken our people, these three states, to hell and back. ”
Murphy also said the warning depends on people “doing the right thing.”
“Constitutionally, we cannot put border controls around New Jersey,” he said. “We are asking people to take a great deal of personal responsibility here.”
Trump received the first-term progressive governor at his Somerset County golf club in early June, during which the president endorsed federal funding for a new Portal Bridge over the Hackensack River.
Although Murphy has repeatedly criticized Trump in recent years, the two have been more diplomatic in recent months, as New Jersey has sought help from the federal government to respond to the coronavirus.
Trump often spends weekends during the summer months at his private New Jersey golf club. He has spent 94 days at Bedminster during his presidency, only behind the 133 days he spent at Mar-a-Lago, his Palm Beach, Florida property, according to NBC News.
New Jersey has the second highest number of COVID-19 deaths and the third most cases among US states. And the state’s tax revenue has accrued in the wake of business closings and blockade restrictions that Murphy ordered to combat the spread of the virus.
The state announced 48 new deaths and 317 new cases on Wednesday, bringing the number of coronavirus deaths to 12,995 with 169,892 cases since the pandemic began in mid-March. State hospitals also reported a second consecutive day of increases in coronavirus patients and the highest number of hospitalizations in a week.
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NJ Advance Media team writer Matt Arco contributed to this report.
Sophie Nieto-Muñoz can be contacted at [email protected]. Follow her on @snietomunoz.
Jonathan D. Salant can be reached in [email protected]. Follow him on @JDSalant.
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