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Order in the court: Wear masks

Deputy Gary Florez, left, talks with title abstractor Sarah Gorby near the entrance to the Mahoning County Courthouse on Monday. A new sign was posted at the courthouse saying that face coverings are now mandatory there and and in all county buildings. Staff photo / Ed Runyan

By ED RUNYAN

Staff writer

YOUNGSTOWN — Judge John Durkin met Monday with a manufacturer of so-called “sneeze shields” that will begin showing up in Mahoning County Common Pleas courtrooms in the coming weeks.

The clear plastic shields come in a variety of styles, but in a courtroom setting, they allow prosecutors, jurors and the public to see someone on the witness stand while protecting the witness from COVID-19.

The shields also may be installed to protect other people in the courtroom, but the judges, county commissioners and Mahoning County Public Health officials are still working on other details.

The county commissioners instituted a new policy that began Monday that everyone entering the courthouse or any other county building must now wear a face covering or mask.

Durkin will be one of three presenters at a May 29 webinar presented by the Ohio Judicial College that will provide information for common pleas, county and municipal court officials on re-establishing in-person and virtual court operations.

Durkin said jury trials will not begin before the judicial conference, but he said additional types of hearings will resume in the common pleas courts June 1.

Jury trials will resume sometime after that.

Most court hearings and all jury trials in Mahoning County have been halted since the state instituted social distancing and stay-at-home orders in mid-March.

“We have taken a lot of steps here to address health and safety,” Durkin said. “Anyone entering the courthouse has had his or her temperature checked for several weeks.”

Social distancing will be carried out in each room of the courthouse, he said.

The county’s facilities department has installed “sneeze guards” in a variety of places already, the county commissioners stated in a four-page set of recommendations they issued a couple weeks ago.

It recommends that any worker who can continue to work productively from home should continue to do so. Supervisors should rearrange their work spaces where necessary to maintain social distancing, the guidelines state. They should also continue to use instant messaging, email and video while keeping group meetings small. Employee movement within buildings also should be limited.

erunyan@tribtoday.com

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