Positive coronavirus case reported at Westmoreland County courthouse

A worker at the Westmoreland County courthouse has tested positive for the new coronavirus, said Amanda Bernard, director of human resources.

The finding comes as Allegheny County officials confirmed Monday that six employees tested positive for the virus.

Westmoreland officials were notified of the positive test there on Sunday. The worker’s last day at the courthouse was Wednesday, Bernard said. She declined to identify the department in which the employee worked. Four other workers who came in close contact with that person are in quarantine for 14 days.

The Allegheny County cases involve two employees who work at the courthouse in Downtown Pittsburgh. The others work at the city-county building, in pretrial services, the family division and at a Penn Hills district court office. That office will be closed for two weeks.

Three members of Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A Zappala Jr. have also tested positive for covid-19, the DA’s office said in a Facebook post Monday afternoon.

In Westmoreland, temperature checks of anyone entering the courthouse resumed on Monday as a result of the positive case. Employees with Amerisafe Group in Hempfield took temperatures of courthouse visitors from April 8 until early June when their contract expired as Pennsylvania lifted restrictive measures meant to slow the pandemic’s spread.

Park police officers are handling the duties that resumed Monday at the courthouse.

Row offices there have slowly been reopening over the past several weeks. The Register of Wills office was set to fully reopen to the public Monday, the last in the courthouse to do so.

After learning of the positive case, county officials followed state and Centers for Disease Control guidelines to clean and prepare to continue operating. The office where the employee who tested positive works was disinfected twice, Bernard said.

“We want to make sure (residents and workers) are safe at all times,” said Commission Sean Kertes.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health on Monday reported 27 new cases of the virus in Westmoreland County. Of 828 total cases, 801 are confirmed and 27 are probable.

Ninety new cases were reported by the department between Friday and Sunday. Nearly 19,600 people in the county have tested negative.

County officials sent out a memo to all courthouse employees Monday to notify them of the situation and ask that they continue to be mindful of washing their hands, avoiding touching their face and maintaining social distance. Signs have been put up all over the courthouse encouraging both activities.

Plexiglass has been installed in courtrooms and court offices as a means to protect workers from the public. Judges have staggered hearings throughout the day in an effort to reduce the amount of people visiting the courthouse at one time.

Hearings gradually increased in May. Jury trials are set to resume in August.

In Allegheny County, confirmation of the cases comes after several Pittsburgh criminal defense attorneys said they are fearful of the possible spread of covid-19 at the courthouse and are concerned about a perceived lack of communication among court officials, prosecutors and attorneys who work in the courthouse about the presence of the coronavirus there.

“The public deserves to know,” said Patrick Nightingale, a defense attorney based Downtown. “The courthouse is where the public comes into contact with the judicial system.”

Court officials are working on a plan to communicate positive cases to attorneys while maintaining confidentiality of the person who tested positive, said Allegheny County court administrator Christopher Connors.

The court system goes beyond procedures recommended by federal, state and county health officials, Connors said. It does its own contact tracing and notifies those who may have been exposed to someone who tested positive for covid-19, according to Connors.