Virtual court proceeding with presiding Judge Gerald Leibovitz on July, 26 2023 in Manhattan, New York. Photo: Ryland West


It was a sign of the times. It was a devil of a time. It was an unprecedented time. The COVID-19 virus’s emergence and global expansion struck from seemingly out of nowhere. It was the deadliest disease event in American history. Not since the 1918 global influenza pandemic had a highly infectious airborne pathogen of COVID-19's magnitude swept the world, causing panic and leaving in its wake unparalleled loss of life.