Wayne Co. courthouse employee tests positive for COVID-19, court operations scaled back

GREENVILLE — The courts in Wayne County stepped down to operating phase one Tuesday after a courthouse employee tested positive for COVID-19.

Officials learned on Sunday about the positive diagnosis, so “it’s been kind of crazy since then,” said Associate Circuit Judge Christina Kime.

Under the Missouri Supreme Court operating directives, a positive case immediately sends a court back to “either a (phase) zero or one,” Kime said. “We decided to go to one,” which suspends most in-person proceedings.

The court had been operating at phase three since Sept. 1, after previously reverting back to phase two on Aug. 10 due to the “accelerating” number of COVID-19 cases in the county.

“We had said then we are going to do this and then look at (the situation) at the end of August,” Kime said. “That way if (the situation) looked stable, we could go ahead and bump up (to phase three).

“I talked to Judge (Megan) Seay on the 31st. There were increases (in cases but) not any big jumps” at that time.

Kime said it was decided to move the courts back to operating phase three Sept. 1.

“We thought we can go to three with the mask requirement and start the jury trials again” in mid-September since the county had a facility that could be used to allow for social distancing during jury selection, said Kime.

The county held a jury trial in early August before reverting back to phase two.

Kime said she was in court Tuesday and took up preliminary hearings because they already were scheduled.

Court personnel, she said, were in a position where they had to proceed with the hearings, “especially as long as some people had been waiting.

“Also … we didn’t find out about it until Sunday. Monday was a holiday.”

Kime said it would have been difficult to notify everyone before they showed up for court on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Kime said, she had an 11 a.m. docket, which she handled virtually.

Kime said Seay has a docket in Wayne County on Thursday, but she has “reverted back to only (taking up) things to protect (defendant’s) constitutional rights, things of that nature.

“She’s got a juvenile docket; she is going to do some of that.”

Most court proceedings are “shut down again for a little while,” Kime said. “ … Bond hearings and things like that, I can do (virtually). … We can do it remotely if we need to” using Webex.

The courthouse doors are locked again, but county offices remain open, Kime said.

“People can still access the courthouse, but we’re going back to the old (system); they contact the officeholder,” she said. “The officeholder can elect to let them in.”

County officials, Kime said, are trying to be conservative as it is unknown if additional courthouse employees could test positive.

“If it turns out to be just the one, then I think we can work our way back up,” Kime said. “It’s bad that it’s one.

“I feel bad for the employee, don’t get me wrong, but you have to address where do we go from here.”

Officials already were taking temperatures at the door as a precautionary step, Kime said.

“We all get our temperature taken every day,” said Kime, who indicated the infected employee had no fever, but was not feeling well.

Kime said the employee saw a doctor a “few times, but was not diagnosed” with COVID-19 and has since been hospitalized. The employee reportedly may have tested positive after being hospitalized.

“I know the employee was sick for a few days,” Kime said. “As I understood it, (the person’s) first (test) was negative.”

With no fever, “you get in the courthouse,” said Kime.