20 NYC judges test positive for COVID-19 after Long Island retreat

(Reuters) - Twenty New York City judges have tested positive for COVID-19 after attending an annual three-day retreat last week at a Long Island resort amid a rising number of cases nationally of coronavirus infections, the state's court system said Thursday.

Lucian Chalfen, a spokesperson for the New York Office of Court Administration, confirmed that 20 of the more than 70 criminal court judges tested positive but said none reported serious symptoms.

The event was held at a resort in Montauk. Judges who tested positive but are without symptoms must quarantine for five days before they can return to work as long as they wear masks, which are required in public areas of the courtrooms, he added.

All of the judges were vaccinated, Chalfen said. The state's court system has a vaccine mandate for all of its more than 15,000 staff members and 3,000 judges.

The court system in April said it would fire 103 employees who failed to submit proof they were vaccinated against COVID-19. Chalfen on Thursday said ultimately about 99 were fired.

Four judges in the state were out of compliance at the time of that April announcement, including Jenny Rivera, an associate judge on the New York Court of Appeals, the state's top court.

The Office of Court Administration cannot fire the judges, but Chalfen at the time said non-compliance could subject judges to referrals to the Commission on Judicial Conduct, which can remove them.

As of Thursday, only three judges were not in compliance, Chalfen said. He did not identify them.

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New York courts to fire 103 employees over lack of COVID vaccine

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