#NJ health official claims he was fired for denying Phil Murphy’s aide coronavirus tests

A senior New Jersey health official is suing over his firing in the middle of the pandemic — claiming it was revenge for refusing to give coronavirus tests to relatives of Gov. Phil Murphy’s top aide.

Christopher Neuwirth says he was immediately “ostracized” in April when he refused to give hard-to-get tests to family members of George Helmy, the governor’s chief of staff, according to a lawsuit posted by NJ.com.

He insisted the preferential treatment would be “unethical and unlawful” given that people were lining up for hours at the time hoping to get one of just 500 tests being issued each day, the report says.

“Testing was limited. Testing supplies were limited,” Neuwirth told NJ.com through his attorney, Christopher Eibeler.

Despite his key role in the middle of the pandemic, Neuwirth was fired May 28, with the governor refusing to give an explanation at the time, the report says.

There were rumors he canned for either leaking to the press or failing to disclose a side job — but Neuwirth insists it was purely his rebellion against testing Helmy’s relatives.

“Because I pursued an ethics complaint, I was terminated,” Neuwirth told the site through his attorney.

At the time, New Jersey already had more than 100,000 cases of COVID-19 with 5,617 deaths, NJ.com noted.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in state Superior Court in Mercer County, seeks reinstatement, back pay and unspecified damages and attorney fees.

A spokesman for Gov. Murphy told NJ.com, “We look forward to a putting forward a vigorous defense against this meritless complaint.”

According to the complaint, the request for “a favor” was first made by State Police Superintendent Patrick Callahan, who again called the next day and “angrily demanded” he test Helmy’s family. A spokesman for the State Police said they could not discuss pending litigation.

The Health Department did not respond to the site’s request for comment.