Ex-Gov. Christie has new ad promoting wearing a mask

Former Gov. Chris Christie continues to support the use of masks with a 30-second public service announcement he recorded “for all those people who refuse to wear a mask.”

Christie did not wear a mask while helping President Donald Trump with debate prep at the White House in October or when he attended a Rose Garden event announcing the Supreme Court nomination of Amy Coney Barrett.

After contracting a serious bout of COVID-19 that left him in intensive care for a week,  Christie has on several occasions said he was wrong to not take the pandemic more seriously and has become an advocate for masks — in contrast with his friend, the president, who for months was reluctant to be seen wearing one.

In the video, Christie says that while he was in the ICU he thought about how it was wrong to not wear a mask at the White House and to let the issue divide the country.

"We now know you're twice as likely to get COVID-19  if you don't wear a mask," Christie says in the video interspersed with images from his time as governor and him wearing a mask.

"Please. Wear a mask," Christie says at the end.

The video does not say who is responsible for the ad but CNN reports it was paid for by the family of former New Jersey financier Ray Chambers, who currently serves as the ambassador for global strategy for the World Health Organization. Chambers retweeted the video on his own Twitter account.

The ad follows in the footsteps of another former governor.

"Hello. I'm New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, and I should be dead," the Democratic leader said in a PSA recorded after surviving a 2007 car crash while not wearing a seat belt. 

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNJ