Mar 1, 2022 3 min read

People visiting the Washington County Courthouse or local magistrate offices will no longer be required to wear face masks indoors beginning today.

President Judge John DiSalle filed an administrative order Monday afternoon easing the mask mandate and other COVID-19 safety rules inside judicial facilities after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention placed Washington County into its “low transmission” category.

Sheriff’s deputies have been enforcing the mandate for anyone entering the courthouse for nearly seven months, although there were circumstances where attorneys, judges or defendants could lower their face coverings while speaking in court. In addition to the courthouse, the order vacating mask requirements extends to all magisterial district courts in the county.

While ending the mandate, DiSalle still encouraged people who are worried about contracting the coronavirus to continue wearing masks indoors if they so choose, although it will not be required.

“Those who are at higher risk for serious illness form COVID-19, including our elderly citizens, people who are immunocompromised, people with disabilities, those who are not fully vaccinated and all others concerned are encouraged to wear masks,” DiSalle wrote in the order.

The mandate has been in place since Aug. 5, when the infection rate increased significantly and remained high for several months. However, the number of new COVID-19 cases has dropped dramatically both locally and nationally in recent weeks, prompting the change.

DiSalle’s order coincides with the CDC’s changes to its community transmission chart on Friday – which takes into account the number of new cases, vaccination levels and hospitalizations – that moved Washington County into the low-level green category. Greene and Fayette counties remain in the moderate transmission level, although neither courthouse has required masks during the recent surge in cases.

The seven-day average of new daily coronavirus cases in Washington County dropped to 34 on Sunday, down significantly since hitting an all-time high of 555 new average daily cases on Jan. 16. It’s the lowest number of average daily COVID-19 cases since Aug. 18, when the delta and omicron variants began taking hold.

Safety protocols put in place by court officials to prevent the spread of COVID-19 have been instituted and removed several times at the Washington County Courthouse since the pandemic reached the region in March 2020. Masks were not required for vaccinated visitors last summer, but reinstated for everyone in August.

It was not known how DiSalle’s new order will impact the use of video conferencing technology for hearings involving jailed suspects. In most cases over the past two years, defendants who are being held at the jail have appeared through video conferencing in order to limit the spread of the coronavirus inside the correctional facility. Defendants who have appeared for plea hearings, sentencings or trials have been brought into the courtroom for those proceedings.