With Masks Required, NY Courts Back to Full In-Person Staffing
The return comes more than 15 months after the state court system shut down all "nonessential" services in a pitch to slow New York's nascent coronavirus crisis. Since March of last year, there have been more than 2 million confirmed infections across the state.
May 24, 2021 at 06:25 PM
3 minute read
New York's court system returned to full in-person staffing on Monday as all judges and court staff were ordered to physically report for work. The return comes more than 15 months after the state court system shut down all "nonessential" services in a pitch to slow New York's nascent coronavirus crisis. Since March of last year, there have been more than 2 million confirmed infections across the state. "We have traveled a long, remarkable journey together. We have sadly suffered the losses of family members, friends and colleagues," said Chief Judge Janet DiFiore in a video statement released Monday. "We've worked together to transform and reinvent ourselves as a virtual court system nearly overnight." New York's top judge commented that attorneys and litigants have been waiting for full staffing to come back. "We all know—and we all understand and appreciate—that most court proceedings, for reasons including access to justice or court operations, are most appropriately heard in person," she said. "And our efforts to once again provide a full range of court services to lawyers and their clients and to unrepresented litigants is absolutely the right thing to do. And this is the right time to do it." Remarks like that underscore a mainstay of New York's pre-pandemic legal system: person-to-person interactions. Those connections kept the wheels turning inside state courthouses before the pandemic. But with the coronavirus spreading on a person-to-person basis, that dynamic created obstinate challenges for the court system. Despite the return of full in-person staffing, DiFiore cautioned that the system was not going back to pre-pandemic "business as usual." Court officials will limit the number of individuals in facilities by relying on virtual technology, she said. They will also limit the number of people through a staggered scheduling of court calendars and court appearances. Coronavirus safety protocols aren't going anywhere, either. Courthouse visitors, staff members and judges will continue to be required to wear masks in courthouses, regardless of their vaccination status. The system will also continue with temperature checks, social distancing, sanitizing and coronavirus screenings. The return to the courthouse hasn't been without some controversy. After DiFiore announced the return date last month, several unions said they were left with concerns and unanswered questions. New York's court system is not doing away with its mask requirement for now, even though the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has given the OK for fully vaccinated people to stop wearing face masks in most public indoor situations. DiFiore says they're keeping the mask requirement for the time being. "We are doing so out of an abundance of caution and in order to carefully monitor and evaluate the impact of increased traffic in our courthouses following today's return to full staffing levels," DiFiore said in the video statement. She says they'll reconsider that decision when they have more experience and data.
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