HEADING BACK TO HELL
COVID spike moves N.Y. schools, courts closer to shutting down — once again
The New York State court system on Friday indefinitely halted most proceedings that require in-person appearances after a surge in coronavirus cases across various courthouses.
Starting Monday, the state Office of Court Administration will not summon prospective trial jurors for jury duty — or grand jurors for grand jury service. All future bench trials and hearings will be conducted virtually, per a memo issued by Chief Administrative Judge Lawrence Marks.
Criminal and civil jury trials already underway will continue until their conclusion.
The decision comes after more than a dozen court staffers citywide tested positive for coronavirus while OCA was summoning members of the public for jury duty.
On Tuesday, Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Meghan Dunigan tested positive for COVID-19 after she fell ill with symptoms and went for a rapid test, according to an email sent to courthouse staff Thursday from Manhattan Chief Clerk Christopher DiSanto.
Dunigan presented a case to grand jurors at Manhattan Criminal Court on Monday for about 40 minutes and appeared Tuesday for calendar call for about the same amount of time, according to the email obtained by the Daily News.
OCA said it notified everyone who may have come into contact with the infected prosecutor, but could not confirm how many people might have been exposed.
The city’s courts do not require people to sign in when entering the courthouses, so it is not clear how officials can carry out contact tracing.
“You can’t interrogate people like that,” state courts spokesman Lucian Chalfen said of the decision to not require sign-ins. “It’s not appropriate.”
A prosecutor in Queens DA Melinda Katz’s office also tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday and another on Nov. 4, officials said.
The executive director of Queens Defenders, Lori Zeno, who manages 160 employees, said OCA didn’t inform her about the infected parties, but instead, she found out as “a courtesy” from Katz’s office.
“People are just calling to be nice,” she said. “when it’s OCA’s job.”
A spokesperson for Katz did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Queens residents who have been summoned for jury duty since Nov. 2 were required to report to Queens Borough Hall, where the air filtration system has not been updated in line with CDC recommendations.
The CDC recommends MERV 13 filters for office spaces, schools, and other buildings occupied by large groups of people. In Queens Borough Hall, the air filtration system is still MERV 8, OCA confirmed.
“Some of them could be waiting there for days,” Zeno said. “They’re sitting in a room at Borough Hall and they’re just waiting — and they have no idea that it’s not safe.”
In response, Chalfen said prospective jurors were seated in Borough Hall at 25% capacity and noted the area is “very large.”
In early October, a safety consultants’ report commissioned by 10 of the city’s legal defender services found the city’s courts were ill-equipped to prevent coronavirus spread.
The report published by CrowdRx, which assesses safety in facilities that draw big groups of people, found courtrooms and prisoner holding areas posed “an unacceptably high-risk” of acquiring the coronavirus “due to the number of people who congregate in close proximity.”
Citywide, 15 cases of coronavirus have been diagnosed since OCA commenced in-person matters in late October, according to the agency’s website. The positive cases include court officers, court interpreters, and prosecutors.
Eight court employees in the Bronx tested positive for the virus since in-person matters were resumed, including three court officers and an interpreter who works at the Bronx Hall of Justice and Bronx County Civil Court. The diagnoses resulted in OCA nixing the Bronx’s first criminal trial in nine months on Nov. 5
According to the court system’s website, another three staffers, last inside Bronx courthouses on Nov. 10, tested positive for the virus days after the trial’s cancellation.
The infected trio was assigned to the Bronx’s housing court, civil court, and family court.
In Brooklyn, four employees — who worked inside the Court Officers Academy, Brooklyn Supreme Court, civil court, and Brooklyn Supreme Court-Civil Term — tested positive between Oct. 28 and Nov. 10.
In Staten Island Criminal Court, an employee tested positive on Oct. 23, OCA’s website shows.
Chalfen said the decision to halt jury in-person proceedings does not indicate the court system began summoning members of the public back to court before it was safe to do so.
“This is about being flexible and recognizing the realities. When we started this, things were going quite well in New York City and New York State. The positivity rate was hovering around 1%, now it’s approaching 3%, and now we’re taking action,” he said.
“Things have changed.”