A temperature check will be mandatory before entering a state courthouse. Photo: Thanassis Stavrakis/AP

New York's state court system says people planning to visit their courthouses should expect a temperature check and coronavirus screening questions.

Chief Judge Janet DiFiore, in a video statement Monday, described the move as a safety measure to help stop the spread of the coronavirus. She said temperature screenings were "strongly recommended" by their epidemiologist and many stakeholders.

"We believe that this is a responsible and useful public health practice that will minimize the risk of COVID transmission in our courthouses, and so we have today instituted that additional practice throughout the entire state," DiFiore said during the video statement. 

State court spokesman Lucian Chalfen issued a statement saying the temperature screening and the questioning will apply to all visitors, vendors, attorneys, witnesses, prisoners, law enforcement officers, spectators and "all other non-court personnel."

A visitor will not be allowed to enter the building if their registered temperature is 100 degrees or higher or if they answer "yes" to any of the questions, according to the statement.

Those questions will include asking whether the visitor has tested positive for coronavirus in the last 14 days, according to a state court system memo. It also includes asking whether the visitor has had a cough, shortness of breath, a fever or any flu-like symptoms during that same time frame, the document says.

In her video statement, DiFiore also thanked Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the state's Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services for providing masks, nitrile gloves and hand sanitizer. 

"There is no question in my mind that the progress we have made to keep our courts up and running in the face of the pandemic has been due to the solid unity and cooperation that we have enjoyed within our court family and with our many outside stakeholders and justice partners," she said in the video statement.