Lancaster Court Resumes More In-Person Proceedings

Today the Lancaster county court returned to close to full operations. People coming to the court are screened for potential COVID-19 symptoms or exposure. Those in courtrooms are required to wear masks.

The court is holding five sessions a day to accommodate increase in volume of cases and stagger them throughout the day. Typically the court would hold three sessions per day.

Tom Zimmerman is Lancaster County Judge. He said people should limit the number of people they bring to court with them.

“If we were to have just litigants come to the courtroom that would be ideal," Zimmerman said. "We understand, and certainly if, for example, there’s a person who is underage, a juvenile, who has a ticket and needs to get that resolved, certainly that parent needs to come to court. But we do see people who come to court and they come with friends or family; that just adds to the volume in the courtroom that we would like to avoid.”

Juries will be deliberate in larger spaces to allow for social distancing.

Starting in mid-March the court was limited to some cases for people in custody at the Lancaster County jail. Some civil cases were also heard. Trials began in June.