Mecklenburg courthouse to remain closed as COVID-19 outbreak among employees worsens
The Mecklenburg County courthouse will remain mostly closed for the rest of this week, court officials said Tuesday.
Almost all sessions of superior and district court on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday have been rescheduled. Jurors serving in a trial that began Aug. 2 should report to the courthouse as scheduled on Wednesday.
New jurors summoned for later this week have been excused from jury duty.
Tuesday’s announcement follows a recent outbreak of COVID-19 cases in the office of Clerk of Court Elisa Chinn-Gary that shut down most courthouse activities on Monday and Tuesday.
Twelve employees believed to be part of Chinn-Gary’s staff have tested positive for the illness as of late Tuesday, up from five on Monday, the Observer has learned. Another 40 employees have been told to quarantine.
The clerk’s office, which is the courthouse’s largest while also having the most interactions with the public, has been struck by the virus multiple times since the pandemic reached Charlotte in February 2020.
The pandemic closed courthouses around the state for almost nine months when the virus first swept through North Carolina in March 2020. Courthouses in Gaston, Union, Lincoln, Iredell and Cabarrus counties remain open, representatives said Monday.
The Mecklenburg courthouse’s latest announcement tracks a surge in COVID-19 cases throughout North Carolina.
On Monday, the state experienced the largest single-day jump in hospital ICU admissions since the beginning of the pandemic. Weekly COVID-19 hospitalizations are also at an all-time high, according to the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services.
Last week, a Mecklenburg lawsuit trial ended in a mistrial after three jurors came down with the disease. The county jail also announced late last month that a small number of inmates had been isolated.
The courthouse already has returned to a mandatory mask requirement as COVID-19 infections fueled by the highly infectious delta variant continue to climb statewide.
Tuesday’s announcement says all Mecklenburg court sessions have been canceled until this weekend with limited exceptions:
▪ All first appearance hearings in Courtroom 4150 will be heard remotely.
▪ Felony probation probable cause hearings will be go on as scheduled in Superior Court.
▪ Secured custody hearings scheduled for Courtroom 8390 will be heard remotely.
▪ Requests for temporary domestic violence protection orders, motions for both temporary injunctive relief and non-secure custody of juveniles should be made to the district judge assigned to the public window at the jail.
▪ All those wanting to file legal documents should mail them or use the courthouse receptacle designated by the clerk’s office.
