Durham County district attorney’s staff COVID-19 quarantine shuts down courts
Most Durham County court hearings scheduled for this week are postponed because of an unknown number of District Attorney’s Office staff members who have been exposed to the coronavirus.
“Court sessions canceled due to DA staff quarantined due to COVID,” an advisory on the North Carolina Judicial Branch website states.
Trials at the courthouse are already on hold until January. Now criminal superior, most district and domestic violence court hearings are canceled through Friday. Some district court cases, including first appearance hearing at the jail, will still be held.
Sarah Willets, a spokesperson for the DA’s Office, would not say how many people are in quarantine and how many, if any of them, tested positive for the virus, citing employee privacy.
Since Oct. 30, eight people who were at the courthouse have tested positive for COVID-19, according to Durham County courthouse notices.
One of two Nov. 19 notices reported a staff member who tested positive was last at the courthouse Nov. 17 “and spent several hours in the DA’s Office.”
“The staff member also spent a significant amount of time in Courtroom 7C and was milling around outside the courthouse during the smoke evacuation,” the notice states. According to the Durham County Sheriff’s Office, the courthouse was briefly evacuated Nov. 17.
A second Nov. 19 notice reported that a second person at the courthouse Nov. 18 tested positive. The notice doesn’t specify where the person spent time.
Individuals at risk will be contacted through the contact tracing process, the notices state, but people in the building on those days are encouraged to monitor themselves for COVID-19 symptoms.
People whose cases have been postponed will receive information about a new court date in the mail. Individuals can also contact the clerk of court.
Defense attorney wants more information
The courthouse notices vary in detail. Some outline exactly where a person was in the building and when. Others don’t.
Defense attorney Daniel Meier wants more information about the cases in DA’s Office. Private attorneys who had contact with people in the DA’s office might be traveling to other counties this week, he said.
“If we were exposed last week, this is about the time frame that we would be contagious but not symptomatic,” Meier said.
During the pandemic, courts in Durham, Wake, Orange and have worked to continue many court functions, excluding trials, at reduced capacity. Wake County resumed jury trials in mid November.
Still, each of those counties has shut down courts at some period due to employees or others testing positive during the pandemic. Wake County announced last week a reduction in civil court operation through Friday.
Two employees with an agency inside the Wake courthouse tested positive, according to a notice Monday. The people last worked in the courthouse on Nov. 23, a notice states, and wore masks the entire time.
At least five people who tested positive visited or worked in the courthouse in November, according to Wake County courthouse notices.
This story was originally published November 30, 2020 at 12:15 PM.
