A growing range of federal and state High courts in some parts of the United States are calling off in-person proceedings in January due to the rising number of Covid-19 infections which has surged in number as a result of the Omicron variant.
This decision was made so as to keep legal practitioners and court workers safe from the COVID-19 virus.
On Monday, the U.S district court for California’s central district announced that court activities will be paused for three weeks in Los Angeles, Santa Ana and Riverside due to the Omicron variant.
According to the court, it had experienced a rise in the number of suspected and confirmed covid-19 cases and in order to protect public health and safety, jury trials had to be suspended.
This development came following an announcement by Connecticut’s federal district courtroom to extend any trial set to commence before February 1, 2022.
According to Reuters, the Chief federal defender in Connecticut, Terence Ward wrote in an email that the decision to suspend the trial was the right thing to do.
“The court is doing the right thing, There is no safe way to conduct jury trials right now with the huge increase in COVID cases,” Mr Ward wrote.
Last week, the Federal District courts in Washington D.C, and New Jersey also suspended trials slated for January.
While in New York City, Court Proceedings are still holding even though 34 percent of residents tested positive to Covid-19 last week.
Janet DiFiore, the New York Chief judge on Monday said the state’s courts will continue with in-person proceedings while accessing monitoring the situation in courthouses.
“The state’s courts will continue with our in-person proceedings while, of course, monitoring the metrics very closely, assessing the situation in each courthouse and staying ready to pivot,” DiFiore said.
Most appellate courts had already embraced virtual court sessions while calling off the in-person sessions due to the pandemic.
As a safety protocol, the Manhattan-based Southern District of New York has increased the number of jury boxes and the compulsory use of N95 or K95 masks. Witnesses also are now to testify from plexiglass booths.
