North Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice Cheri Beasley issued an emergency order on Friday, postponing all non-essential, in-person court proceedings for 30 days, starting Monday.
Beasley cited the surging numbers of coronavirus infections and hospitalizations statewide, noting that more than 80 of North Carolina's 100 counties have either critical or substantial levels of viral spread, according to state health officials.
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"Since the pandemic began earlier this year, Judicial Branch officials and employees have reported 291 confirmed positive cases, 40 of which have been reported this week alone," she wrote in a memo to court workers. "Fifty-three counties have reported partial or complete closures of court facilities during the pandemic, some more than once, and 11 counties have reported closures in the past week alone."
Beasley halted jury trials and in-person hearings at the beginning of the pandemic and slowly reopened courthouses in the following months, issuing a mask mandate in July and requiring each county to present a plan for resuming trials with safety protocols in place.
Cumberland County was the first to resume jury trials in October, and Wake County restarted only last month.
"It adds to what is a growing backlog," Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman said. "We have otherwise largely managed to maintain pre-pandemic numbers in terms of pending cases, but we are really seeing, at least on the criminal side, things starting to back up."
Beasley noted that the end of December is usually slower for courts, so it's a good time to take a break.
"The schedule for jury trials is likely to be light, and most courts have the capacity to conduct many proceedings remotely," Beasley wrote in the memo. "In addition, scaling back operations for the next 30 days will give local court officials an opportunity to do much needed planning to ensure that our courts are in the best possible position to protect the health and safety of employees and the public in 2021. We are hopeful that this planning will minimize or avoid the need for additional shutdowns in early 2021 when community spread is expected to be even higher."