A coronavirus vaccine may be readily available to some Americans but Chris Christie is still urging people to wear their masks.
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The 30-second public service announcement video was posted to the former governor of New Jersey’s Twitter account after he contracted COVID-19 and was hospitalized back in October. Christie attended the infamous Rose Garden gathering celebrating Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination that resulted in multiple COVID-19 infections among White House staff.
“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,” says Christie in the video, per the New York Post. “Because if you don’t do the right thing, we could all end up on the wrong side of history. Please wear a mask.”
After contracting the virus, he says his time in the hospital allowed him to reflect.
“You know, lying in isolation in ICU for seven days, I thought about how wrong I was to remove my mask at the White House.”
Christie, along with President Donald Trump, were said to have contracted the virus at the event.
“This message isn’t for everyone. It’s for all those people who refuse to wear a mask.”
The national TV ad promoting mask-wearing was funded by a wealthy philanthropist, Ray Chambers, the ambassador for global strategy of the World Health Organization.
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Christie captions the video by saying, “I am very happy today for this ad to start to run on TV across America. I urge all Americans to learn from my experience and to, please, wear a mask and stay safe.”
As of today, there have been over 300,000 COVID-19 deaths in the US.
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