Madison County Chief Judge William Mudge has ordered criminal felony jury trials as well as civil, traffic, misdemeanor and DUI jury trials set to begin prior to Sept. 1 be continued in the Third Judicial Circuit.
The orders stipulate that resident Bond County Circuit Judge, Christopher Bauer, is authorized to issue local orders, rules or protocols.
Mudge explained the continuances in two administrative orders issued Thursday, based on "the state of emergency that has been declared by the Governor of the State of Illinois, and the recent record number of COVID positive cases reported by the Madison County Health Department, in order to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, and in the interest of the health and safety of all court users, staff and judicial officers during these extraordinary circumstances."
The continuances "serve the ends of justice and outweigh the best interests of the public and defendants in a speedy trial, and proper distancing and facilities limitations prevent such trials from proceeding safely," Mudge wrote.
On Wednesday, Gov. JB Pritzker announced a new COVID-19 "mitigation" plan:
"The resurgence prevention plan developed by Illinois Department of Public Health outlines three tiers of general and industry-specific mitigations that can be acted upon to prevent a renewed spread of COVID-19," a press release says. "To provide for a more granular approach, the mitigations outlined will be applied on a regional basis based on the 11 Emergency Medical Services (EMS) regions that have traditionally guided IDPH in its statewide public health work."
The Metro-East, including Bond, Clinton, Madison, Monroe, Randolph, St. Clair and Washington counties, is one of the 11 regions.
Pritzker's plan says the following could cause a region to become "more restrictive:"
-Sustained increase in seven-day rolling average in positivity rate
And, one of the following:
-Sustained seven-day increase in hospital admissions or three consecutive days averaging greater than or equal to 8% positivity rate
-Reduction in hospital capacity threatening surge capabilities