Thurston County Superior Court suspended jury trials through at least Feb. 11 as COVID-19 transmission rates continue to rise.
Presiding Judge Mary Sue Wilson ordered the suspension on Dec. 5, citing a recommendation from Health Officer Dimyana Abdelmalek. Bench trials and other hearings will continue during the pause, Wilson said during a Thursday meeting with county commissioners.
"Given the high transmissibility of the virus right now and the uncertainty of whether it's going to significantly impact our hospitals, we don't want to bring jurors to the courthouse to be part of a gathering," Wilson said.
For the past two weeks, superior court suspended jury trials on a weekly basis. Separately, district court suspended jury trials for the foreseeable future based on the same recommendation from Abdelmalek.
The more transmissible omicron virus variant has contributed to an unprecedented surge in COVID-19 cases over the past month. From Dec. 16-29, 2021, the state Department of Health recorded a case rate of 1,134.7 per 100,000 people.
Current case rates far surpass the previous record of 523 from Aug. 18-31, according to state data.
In a Dec. 28 letter to district and superior court, Abdelmalek acknowledge the risk and uncertainty posed by the newer variant.
"Data on clinical severity of the omicron variant is limited, however even with reduced clinical severity, the increased COVID-19 infection rates projected with this variant have the potential to overwhelm hospital and public health capacity at this time," Abdelmalek said.
Furthermore, Abdelmalek recommended both courts maximize their use of remote technologies to limit the number of people attending hearings in person.
To that end, Wilson said superior court is "strongly encouraging" remote participation in court proceedings where that's feasible. Additionally, she said staff will be migrating to telework as much as possible.
Though superior court selected a Feb. 11 end date for its jury trial suspension, Wilson said, further recommendations from Abdelmalek may prompt them to extend the pause.
Superior court suspended jury trials at the start of the pandemic and later tried to restart them in September and October of 2020. No cases went to trial between October 2020 and March 2021, but they resumed thereafter.
The court scheduled and conducted jury trials nearly every week from March to December 2021, Wilson said. While progress has been made, the repeated suspension and limitations have created a substantial case backlog that officials have struggled to manage.
