Judicial Retreat Turns Into Superspreader Event

// The pandemic isn’t quite over yet but people in the legal profession are desperate to get back into the swing of things and bring some amount of normalcy into their lives. For lawyers and judges, that means conferences, retreats, and of course, COVID diagnoses. Smile and say superspreader, everyone!

That’s exactly what happened after more than 70 judges from New York City recently gathered in the Hamptons for a get-together sponsored by the New York City Criminal Court Judges Association. Twenty judges returned home from Gurney’s Star Island with an unwanted souvenir: positive COVID tests.

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According to Lucian Chalfen, a spokesman for New York courts, none of the judges who tested positive are seriously ill. The New York Law Journal has some additional details on how they’re doing :

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“Of the seventy plus attendees, none reported more than mild to moderate cold and flu like symptoms,” he said. “Of the twenty judges that tested positive, the ones that displayed symptoms are recuperating at home and those who are asymptomatic could be back at work. As per our protocols, all are vaccinated.”

New York may have a huge backlog of cases, but these COVID quarantines are nothing more than a nuisance. “Any effect that this would have on cases or operations is negligible or nonexistent,” Chalfen told the New York Times.

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This many COVID cases from a single event shared among judges is nothing to sneeze (or sniffle) at, so we urge you to remain careful out there.

70 N.Y. Judges Went on a Montauk Retreat. 20 Came Down With the Virus. [New York Times]
Score of NYC Judges Who Attended Conference Test Positive for COVID-19 [New York Law Journal]
Judges’ retreat apparently became superspreader event; karaoke said to be one of the activities [ABA Journal]

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Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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Courts, COVID-19, New York, State Court Judges