YOUNGSTOWN — Youngstown City Hall is closed for at least two weeks in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.

“We’re restricting city hall to everyone but essential employees,” Law Director Jeff Limbian said late Tuesday afternoon. “There will be no public access, and nonessential employees are being sent home.”

City Health Commissioner Erin Bishop made the decision to close the building beginning at 4 p.m. Tuesday.

She wrote in a Tuesday announcement: “I make this order to avoid the imminent threat with a high probability of widespread exposure to COVID-19 with a significant risk of substantial harm to a large number of people in the general population, including the elderly and people with weakened immune systems and chronic medical conditions.”

Limbian said it was “based on concerns from the governor’s office and what’s going on around the country.”

Sources said the spouse of a city employee was diagnosed with the virus.

Limbian declined to comment on that. But he said there was “no one specific incident that led to Erin Bishop’s decision.”

City hall employees who can perform their job duties remotely are instructed by their department heads to do so, Bishop wrote in the order.

The health department’s vital statistics division at the City Hall Annex building, 9 W. Front St., will remain open to the public from 8 a.m. to noon Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

Also, the health department’s reproductive health and wellness clinic at the annex will be open from 8 a.m. to noon Wednesdays and Fridays by appointment only. To schedule, call 330-742-8221.

Mayor Jamael Tito Brown, Bishop, U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan and others are scheduled to have a news conference at 11 a.m. today at the Covelli Centre community room to discuss the impact COVID-19 is having on northeast Ohio.

COURTS BY PHONE

Meanwhile, the five general division Mahoning County Common Pleas Court judges are curtailing their hearings to the morning and trying to conduct cases more often over the phone.

Judges R. Scott Krichbaum, John Durkin, Maureen Sweeney, Anthony D’Apolito and Anthony Donofrio are not scheduling hearings past noon, according to a notice outside of Sweeney’s office area.

All of the changes being instituted are the result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has three confirmed cases in the county as of Wednesday.

The Mahoning County Juvenile Court, meanwhile, is converting most of its criminal and civil trials to hearings that will be conducted by telephone, according to new policies being released to the public.

“Personal appearance at the court shall be limited to strict necessity,” Juvenile Court Judge Theresa Dellick stated in a judgment entry she signed Monday.

If a trial, hearing or other proceeding must be held, the assigned judge or magistrate will determine on a case-by-case basis who will be permitted in the court building, her entry staes.

The court will continue to hold hearings on civil protection orders and civil stalking orders, abuse, neglect and dependency.

All visitation and family nights are canceled pending a further order of the court.

On Wednesday, deputies at the juvenile courthouse and the common pleas courthouse were asking questions of anyone attempting to enter the building about whether they were sick or had been in contact with anyone who was sick.

The 7th District Court of Appeals issued an entry stating that it will remain open but will restrict access only to essential judicial and court personnel.

The court reviews cases from Mahoning and seven other counties, but it will only hear oral arguments on cases if it is “determined to be necessary,” and “only the persons presenting the argument will be permitted in the building.”

Oral arguments scheduled for April are canceled and will be rescheduled unless oral arguments are waived.

dskolnick@tribtoday.com

erunyan@tribtoday.com