Former New Jersey Gov Chris Christie is starring in a new advertisement urging Americans to wear face masks amid the COVID-19 pandemic. T...
Former New Jersey Gov Chris Christie is starring in a new advertisement urging Americans to wear face masks amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The prominent Republican, who is an ally of President Trump, tested positive for the coronavirus on October 3 - one week after he went maskless at the Supreme Court nomination ceremony for Amy Coney Barrett, which was held in the White House Rose Garden.
In the ad, released on Wednesday, the 58-year-old states: 'Lying in isolation in ICU for seven days I thought about how wrong I was to remove my mask at the White House.
'Today, I think about how wrong it is to let mask wearing divide us, especially as we now know you're twice as likely to get COVID-19 if you don't wear a mask. If you don't do the right thing, we could all end up on the wrong side of history.'
Former New Jersey Gov Chris Christie is starring in a new advertisement urging Americans to wear face masks amid the COVID-19 pandemic
Christie is seen going maskless at the White House nomination ceremony for Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett on September 26
The ad may irritate President Trump and other Republicans who have not been in favor of forcing Americans to wear face masks.
Christie, who coached Trump for his first Presidential debate in September before they both became stricken with COVID-19, has also been critical of the Commander-in-chief's refusal to concede the election.
On Sunday, he slammed the continued efforts from Trump and his allies to overturn the election results, claiming their legal theories are an 'absurdity.'
'The legal theory put forward by his legal team and by the president is an absurdity,' he told ABC's This Week.
Christie has previously spoken out about his COVID battle, which quickly turned serious, given that he suffers from asthma.
Back in late October he told ABC's Good Morning America that he checked himself into a New Jersey hospital the same day as his positive diagnosis as a precaution because of his pre-existing condition.
'Within 24 hours, I went from feeling absolutely fine to being in the intensive care unit,' he said.
He described the virus hitting him 'like a freight train'.
'All of a sudden I got a fever, chills and body aches. I was wracked with pain and exhaustion.'
Christie said he spent seven days in ICU and was treated with the antiviral drug remdesivir.
Christie is seen donning a face mask in the new PSA released across America on Wednesday
At the time Christie said Trump should also do more to encourage people to wear masks.
'You know, I heard the president say that he has no problem with masks. I think we should be even more affirmative about it,' he said.
'Leaders, all across the politics, sports, the media, should be saying to people, put your masks on and be safe until we get a vaccine that could help to protect us.
'We need to be telling people there is no downside to you wearing masks and in fact there can be a great deal of upside.'
On Tuesday, America witnessed its deadliest day of the pandemic thus far.
The US set a new record for coronavirus deaths reported in 24 hours with more than 3,700 citizens succumbing to the disease.
The harrowing tally from Johns Hopkins University marked the fourth time daily deaths have exceeded 3,000 throughout the pandemic. All four have occurred in the last week.
Hospitalizations also set a new record on Wednesday with 113,069. The number of people hospitalized has exceeded 100,000 for 15 days in a row, with daily increases every day since December 5.
More than 230,700 new cases were reported - an increase of more than 41,000 from Tuesday's tally. The total case load of more than 16.87 million represents roughly five percent of the US population.
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