That office, which oversees the operations of all courts in the state, continues to require court personnel to be vaccinated and requires everyone to don masks and have their temperatures checked before entering all courthouses.
Additionally, social distancing is still required within the courthouses, although the office last month reduced the social distancing requirement from 6 feet to 3 feet.
Lucian Chalfen, the Office of Court Administration’s director of public information, said in an email Monday that 103 nonjudicial employees were terminated after failing to meet an April 4 deadline by which to be vaccinated. Among the fired employees was a court officer in Ulster County and a senior court clerk in Dutchess.
Additionally, four judges across the state, including one in Dutchess County, have been barred from entering public areas of the courthouse for failing to get vaccinated. Chalfen said.
He said the mask and social distancing mandates remain in place because within the courthouse walls there are “people of all walks of life, some vaccinated, some not all in close proximity.”
Masks are still mandated in health care facilities, including hospitals, nursing home and doctors offices, as well as on public transportation. “Similar environments, such as public transportation: air, rail and subways, like a courtroom or jury deliberation room, still have certain restrictions in place,” Chalfen said. “While we constantly reevaluate our protocols, such as shortening the distancing requirement from 6 to 3 feet that was done a month ago, we are a public space that requires members of the public to come into our buildings without any proof of vaccinations.”
The mask and social distancing mandates were on display during a recent trial in Ulster County Court, where a trial was held in the large “ceremonial” courtroom which provided the space necessary to meet the state’s requirement.
Jurors were scattered throughout the courtroom, with some seated in the jury box and others assigned seats within the courtroom galley in order to maintain the state’s 3-foot social distancing requirement.
That the state reduced the distance required between individuals has enabled some spectators to be in the courtroom, a change from earlier trials where spectators were required to watch the trial on closed-circuit television in another part of the courthouse.
Additionally, everyone in the courtroom was required to wear a mask throughout the entirety of the proceedings. The sole exception to that requirement was witnesses, who had to remove their masks and don clear face shields while they were on the witness stand.
“The loosening of the social distancing requirement has greatly helped our ability to schedule jury trials, and we look forward to the day when all restrictions will be lifted,” Chalfen said.
Chalfen said that while the Office of Court Administration constantly reviews its protocols, it believes the restrictions remain important because “we are a public space that requires members of the public to come into our buildings without any proof of vaccinations.”
