The coronavirus epidemic has disrupted courts across America. To slow the spread of the virus, courts have had to adapt their processes to new social distancing measures by transitioning to e-filing and teleconferencing, deferring non-emergency civil matters, or suspending jury trials. While many courts have reduced their services to protect the health of the public, attorneys, judges and other court personnel, the courts remain committed to stay open so that they can provide essential court services, such as hearing civil protection and restraining orders and certain criminal matters.
Most state courts have a special COVID-19 webpage where they have aggregated all their news and court orders. Since the situation is rapidly changing, be sure to check their websites for the latest updates.
Unlike the California counties that provided a more extensive list of permitted activities, Governor Newsom initially focused solely on maintaining the “continuity of operations of federal critical infrastructure sectors.”
A few hours later, the State of California updated their California Coronavirus (COVID-19) Response website to add more exceptions to their “stay home” order. Individuals may now leave their home to maintain continuity of operations of
critical government services
schools
childcare, and
construction, including housing construction.
So, we now have a legal order whose terms have been modified by a website.
The Santa Clara County shelter-in-place order explicitly permits outdoor exercise and activities.
For purposes of this Order, individuals may leave their residence only to perform any of the following “Essential Activities.” […] To engage in outdoor activity, provided the individuals comply with Social Distancing Requirements as defined in this Section, such as, by way of example and without limitation, walking, hiking, or running.
The Executive Order issued by Governor Gavin Newsom tonight does not. While the Coronavirus (COVID-19) in California website states that we are permitted “to get food, care for a relative or friend, get necessary health care, or go to an essential job,” it is silent on exercise. It is also silent on whether lawyers are permitted to work in their office while following social distancing recommendations.
On February 26, 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed the first case of community spread of COVID-19 in the United States. Since this patient had not traveled to Wuhan City, China or come in close contact with a known patient with COVID-19, this infection raised the possibility that COVID-19 was spreading undetected in the United States.
Two weeks later, any hope of that the UC Davis Medical Center patient was an isolated case vanished with the steady rise in COVID-19 confirmations that forced our county to implement increasingly restrictive measures. On March 9, 2020, Santa Clara County required the cancellation of mass gatherings of more than 1,000 persons. The San Jose Sharks played one more away game before the National Hockey League (NHL) postponed the remainder of the season.
