Allegheny Co. judge pushing for video hearings after more court staffers test positive for COVID-19

ALLEGHENY CO., Pa. — The Allegheny County court system is trying to fit in as many cases as possible through videoconferencing due to recent cases of COVID-19.

This announcement Tuesday comes after two more court staffers tested positive for the coronavirus: a Pittsburgh Municipal Court employee and probation office staffer, according to Channel 11 News’ exchange partners at TribLIVE.

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Those two cases are in addition to the six employees who tested positive for COVID-19 over the past two weeks. A previous release by the district court administrator reported the following positive tests:

• 2 employees in the Allegheny County Courthouse (6/25/2020 and 7/2/2020)
• 1 employee in the City-County Building (7/4/2020)
• 1 employee in PreTrial Services (6/30/2020)
• 1 employee at the MDJ offices (7/5/2020)
• 1 employee in the Family Division who was working from home (6/30/2020)

According to TribLIVE, President Judge Kim Berkley Clark said the District Attorney’s Office and the criminal defense bar have “expressed interest in conducting as many court hearings as possible through videoconferencing” because of the recent increase in positive COVID-19 cases.

The Trib reported that starting July 8 through July 17, if video conferencing cannot be done, the president judge is asking other judges to issue a continuance.

“This may be our ‘new normal’ in that it is unclear how this pandemic will develop. A very large portion of criminal cases are pleas which can easily be done remotely,” Clark said.

Allegheny Co. reports more cases in 2 weeks than in past 2 months Allegheny Co. reports more cases in 2 weeks than in past 2 months

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