x
1 NOVEMBER 12, 2020
2
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
3
DISTRICT OF NEVADA
4
5
IN RE: COURT OPERATIONS UNDER THE
6 EXIGENT CIRCUMSTANCES CREATED
THIRD AMENDED TEMPORARY
7 BY COVID-19 AND RELATED GENERAL ORDER 2020-03
CORONAVIRUS
8
9
10 In response to the recent outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (“COVID-19”)
11 in the District of Nevada, the Court has issued a series of general orders to address the
12 Court’s efforts to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. See Temporary General Orders
13 2020-02, 2020-03, 2020-04, 2020-05, 2020-08, 2020-9.1 To reflect the Court’s
14 commitment to gradually resuming in-person proceedings and jury trials, on August 27,
15 2020, the Court issued an amended order to allow jury trials to proceed in accordance
16 with the Court’s internal plan for resuming jury trials. See, e.g., Temporary General
17 Orders 2020-03 (as amended), 2020-08. However, given the pattern of sustained
18 increase in COVID-19 transmission rates in the State of Nevada,2 the Court has once
19 1 Available at https://www.nvd.uscourts.gov/court-information/rules-and-
orders/general-orders/.
20
2 For example, daily new cases by specimen collection date are at their second-
21
highest level of any point in the pandemic, and have been increasing rapidly as of late.
22 See Nevada Health Response, https://nvhealthresponse.nv.gov/ (last visited Nov. 10,
2020) (by navigating to the table, and then selecting the “Confirmed Case Trends” tab).
Further, the highest number of daily active cases are in Clark and Washoe County,
23 where this District’s courthouses are located. See id. (by navigating to the table,
selecting the “Statistics by County” tab, and then sorting by “Cases per 100,000”). Both
24 Clark and Washoe counties are also showing increases in their case rate per 100,000,
and test positivity rate, approaching or exceeding their highest levels to date. See id. (by
25 navigating to the table, selecting the ”County Tracker Trends” tab, and then viewing
both the “Case Rate per 100,000” and “Test Positivity Rate” tabs). Moreover, as to
26
27
1 again determined that jury trials must be further postponed, and each presiding judge
2 will address the need for any trial continuance in their individual cases.
3 IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that all jury trials will be postponed until
4 further notice, and the presiding judges will address the need for any trial continuance
5 in their individual cases.
6 DATED THIS 12th Day of November 2020.
7
8
9
MIRANDA M. DU, CHIEF JUDGE
10 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
11
12
13
14
15
16
17 Washoe County, “[d]ue to elevated transmission of COVID-19 in our community,
Washoe County Health District’s recommendation is that public gatherings be limited to
18 25 or fewer and private gatherings be limited to 10 or fewer.” Washoe County, Nevada,
COVID-19 (Novel Coronavirus), https://www.washoecounty.us/health/programs-and-
19 services/ephp/communicable-diseases-and-epidemiology/educational-materials/COVID-
19.php (last visited Nov. 10, 2020). Because jury selection tends to involve bringing
20 more than 25 people together indoors, allowing jury trials to proceed would conflict with
this prevailing public-health guidance. Finally, Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak recently
21 announced a directive he calls “Stay at Home 2.0.” At a press conference on November
10, 2020, he said:
22 For the next two weeks, we must mimic our stay-at-home behaviors from this
past spring,” Sisolak said at a press conference Tuesday evening. “If we do so,
23 we believe we can begin to turn around things in two weeks without having to
place increased restrictions on our businesses or our schools.”
24
Riley Snyder and Megan Messerly, Sisolak urges Nevadans to limit nonessential travel
25 under ‘Stay at Home 2.0’ or face further restrictions in two weeks, THE NEVADA
INDEPENDENT, https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/sisolak-urges-nevadans-to-
limit-nonessential-activities-under-stay-at-home-2-0-or-face-further-restrictions-in-two-
26 weeks (last visited November 12, 2020).
27 2
