Gov. Phil Murphy has repeatedly warned the worried public for weeks now that COVID-19 tests would only be given to people with symptoms.

Yet, Murphy on Thursday sprang to the defense of his chief counsel, Matt Platkin, who tested positive for the potentially lethal disease despite having no discernible symptoms.

"Why does he get a pass?" Murphy said when asked about why his top aide got the test. It's simple, Murphy explained. Platkin and his legal team have crafted every executive order that Murphy has issued to stop the virus's deadly march.

"So we need this guy,'' he said.

Murphy deserves praise for guiding the state through this terrifying outbreak with his consistent, reassuring messages of hope and resiliency. But on Thursday he offered a muddled, contradictory message on testing.

As Murphy explained, his trusted lieutenant felt it "was the right thing to do" and got tested after recently coming into contact with people who had tested positive. And Platkin's fears proved to be founded.

Platkin is in self-isolation, preventing others from catching the disease. He's apparently feeling fine enough to handle a barrage of calls from his boss, who has depended heavily on him since the 2017 campaign for governor.

Yet thousands of New Jersey residents are also worried about unwittingly spreading the disease to their families and co-workers even though, like Platkin, they show no symptoms. They aren't getting a pass. They are getting turned away from testing sites in Paramus and Holmdel.

Murphy moved quickly off the topic Thursday, providing no details on how his indispensable attorney obtained the test.

If there is anyone who should be getting a pass for a test it is Murphy. Yet he refuses to get tested, even though he had a cancerous tumor removed from his left kidney a little more than month ago. His immune system is "still climbing back to normalcy," Murphy recently told Vanity Fair magazine.

STILE:Can $1,200 stimulus checks help Trump get votes? A similar move worked in NJ

STILE:To stop coronavirus, Murphy wants to keep the 'lowest common denominator' out of NJ

Murphy is 62, which also increases the danger if he is exposed to the virus. So why the hesitancy? For one thing, he doesn't have any symptoms and said, "I hope it stays that way."

And the other reason?

"I just don't go near people. This is the closest I've been near folks,'' he said from his table at the War Memorial in Trenton, where he is flanked by top staff sitting more than 10 feet away.

Murphy also insists that he's taken precautions. He ferried to events in a bigger vehicle that puts added distance between him and his driver. He works in the office by himself and stays clear of staff, including Platkin. And in public events, he maintains a safe, 6-foot-or-more distance from others, although Murphy recently toured a Secaucus site without a mask.

Still, the public wouldn't squawk much if he took the precaution, despite the dearth of test kits. No one wants the voice of New Jersey's response issuing statements from a intensive care unit like Boris Johnson, Britain's prime minister. Trump has twice been tested without much fallout. So has Vice President Mike Pence.

In theory, there should have been enough tests available by now to avert these kind of inconsistencies. There should have been enough to contain the virus's spread, which has now claimed 1,700 lives in New Jersey and infected 51,027 of those who have been tested.

Murphy's muddled messaging is another byproduct of the Trump administration's bungled crisis management of the virus.

Widespread testing of the public has always been the most critical tool in containing its spread. It gives public health officials the ability to isolate and quarantine those who are infected, regardless of whether the people are experiencing symptoms. Massive testing helped South Korea swiftly halt the progress of the disease.

But the U.S. ability to detect the disease was hampered from the start when the U.S. insisted on using its own test, which proved to be flawed. The government wasted weeks trying to work out a fix. The government refused to embrace a much simpler test devised by the World Health Organization.

Meanwhile, Trump downplayed the crisis, reassuring the public that the virus would pass quickly and asserting at one point that the test is available to anyone who needs it. It was untrue when he said it, and it's sadly untrue today.

Production of new and faster tests remains stymied by bureaucratic hurdles. New Jersey and the nation remain where we started, forcing Murphy to ration the tests to the sickest.

As we learned Thursday, Murphy is needlessly hewing to that policy when it concerns himself, but he's willing to make exceptions for someone he can't live without.

Charlie Stile is New Jersey’s preeminent political columnist. For unlimited access to his unique insights into New Jersey’s political power structure and his powerful watchdog work, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: stile@northjersey.com Twitter: @politicalstile