Wayne County courts revert to Phase 2 after bump in COVID-19 cases

GREENVILLE — The courts in Wayne County stepped down to operating phase two this week after a recent 67% jump in positive COVID-19 cases.

The court had been operating at phase three since in June.

In phase three, there were less restrictions in place regarding in-person proceedings, and Wayne County held its first jury trial last week.

The decision to revert back to phase two was due the “accelerating” number of COVID-19 cases in the county, said Associate Circuit Judge Christina Kime.

“We’re up to over 60 (positive cases) now,” Kime said. “There’s also been a significant amount of quarantines that aren’t tested.

“It seems like every couple days, it’s been jumping by five or more. Within a week, it jumped like 15.”

Kime said she, Circuit Judge Megan Seay and Wayne County Circuit Clerk Darren Garrison discussed the situation, and “we all decided until things kind of settle down, and we see where the county is really, we’re going to leave it at a two.”

For now, “we felt like it was the right thing to do,” Kime said. “I think we are going to try to look at (the situation) at the end of the month” to decide whether to move back to phase three.

Courts have to remain in any of the phases for 14 days before moving to the next phase.

While in phase two, “there won’t be any more jury trials this month,” said Kime, who wasn’t sure if any others had been scheduled for August.

Face-coverings are being worn by anyone participating in court proceedings as mandated by the Missouri Supreme Court.

Under the Supreme Court’s directives for phase two, courtroom capacity is limited to 25 people.

“Even though we’re at phase two … you can’t actually get 25 people in the seating part of the courtroom and keep them six feet apart,” Kime said. “ … There is just no way. Ours are those benches, and the benches behind are only two-feet behind, so having to skip every other bench is challenging.”

Wayne County was one of the last in the state to record its first positive case, with that coming on June 18.

“We were at a zero for a good long time,” Kime said.

Health officials report Wayne County remained at five positive cases until July 21, when seven new cases were reported over a three-day period.

In the last 14 days, 50 cases were reported, including 31 in the last seven days, bringing Wayne County’s total to 62 cases.

Its first death was reported on Wednesday,

Wayne County reportedly ranked fourth statewide last week with its 67% jump in cases.

At this time, none of the positive cases have involved courthouse employees, Kime said.

Given the increasing numbers, “we just felt like (reverting back is) something in our small county that we need to react to to make sure everyone is protected,” Kime said.

As a judge, Kime said, she is concerned because “this isn’t like they choose” to come to court.

“Maybe you can choose whether you’re going to go to Walmart, but if you have a court date, you are required to be here,” Kime explained. “So, I feel some responsibility not to put them at undo risk since they have to be here.”

The numbers, Kime said, aren’t multiplying one at the time.

“It just shows how it spreads; there are so many people that aren’t tested,” Kime said. “ … It’s almost hard to tell what the real numbers would be.”

Common symptoms of COVID-19 include fever, cough, trouble breathing, sore throat, muscle pain, and loss of taste or smell. Most people develop only mild symptoms, but some people, especially those with other medical issues, develop more severe symptoms, including pneumonia.

Because some people can be infected with the virus and not feel sick or have any symptoms, the total number of infections is thought to be much higher.

Nearly 59,000 people in Missouri have tested positive for the virus in Missouri with 1,307 deaths.