Christie: I WILL Protect The People Of My State

Governor Christie: The fact of the matter is we’re going to protect the people of our state. And I think you saw yesterday that there’s confirmation that she’s being treated quite well in New Jersey. The CDC has been overseeing all the treatment that she has gotten in New Jersey and I’m hopeful that this morning if all goes well that we’ll be able to release her and send her back to Maine where she can continue to be quarantined in her home. But the fact is I’m not going to step away for a minute from protecting the people of my state and our region. So I understand that she didn’t want to be there. She made that very clear from the beginning but my obligation is to all the people of New Jersey and we’re just going to continue to do that. So the critics are the critics no matter what you do there will be critics and you don’t worry that, you worry about doing what’s right for the people you represent and that’s what we’ve done.

Question: Are you authorized to make the decision to release her? Do you want to release her?

Michael, listen it’s always been about her condition and if her condition permits release then we’ll work with the folks, the state officials in Maine, to make sure that she can go home. Our preference always is to have people quarantined in their homes. Now in this instance it wasn’t possible because given her condition at the time and the fact that CDC and New Jersey agreed she needed to be tested, then we needed to keep her in New Jersey. But as soon as we came to the conclusion that either she had the disease and if she would be transferred to a tier 1 facility somewhere else; or, if she does not, she can be safely transferred to her own home and be quarantined there. It’s always been our desire, but you can’t take chances on this stuff and allow people who may, in fact, be contagious to be able to travel

Question: If she is asymptomatic, the plan is to let her go later today?

Governor Christie: The plan from my perspective is if the medical folks there want to let her go and we have a safe way to transport her from New Jersey to Maine, than I’d be more than happy to have her go home because that’s where she’ll be most comfortable. But, I was not going to back off, Michael, for a moment until we had conformation on all that just because she didn’t want to be there. I know she didn’t want to be there. No one ever wants to be in the hospital, I suspect. And, so, I understand that. But, the fact is I have a much greater, bigger responsibility to the people of the public. So, I think when she has time to reflect, she’ll understand that, as well.