Another Queens Prosecutor Tests Positive For Coronavirus

KEW GARDENS, QUEENS — Another Queens prosecutor has tested positive for the coronavirus, officials confirmed Tuesday.

The prosecutor who contracted COVID-19 was last in the courthouse on Queens Boulevard on Wednesday, in an area where defendants enter pleas to felony charges, according to officials with the Queens District Attorney's Office and the New York Office of Court Administration.

The prosecutor had also been working that day in the DA's offices across the street, at 126-06 Queens Blvd.

The individual tested positive on Monday, a spokesperson for the Queens District Attorney's Office confirmed.

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Judges in Queens Criminal Court were notified of the positive test result by email, and the NYC Test + Trace Corps and organizations representing public defenders were also notified, officials said.

Other notifications are still "ongoing," according to the Office of Court Administration webpage alerting the public to COVID-19 cases.

In an emailed statement, a spokesperson for the Queens District Attorney's Office said notifications "to those we know came into contact with the ADA have been made."

The spokesperson did not respond to a question regarding how many people had been asked to quarantine as a result of the COVID-19 case, but the Queens Daily Eagle reported that a handful of employees in the DA's office, court employees and at least two judges were ordered to quarantine.

News of the positive test comes just days after Queens Criminal Court resumed jury trials for the first time in eight months, bringing even more people into the courthouse and Queens Borough Hall, where many staff members in the DA's office have resumed working in-person.

The first criminal jury trial, for a burglary case, is still set to continue, Office of Court Administration spokesperson Lucian Chalfen told the Eagle.

At least two other prosecutors in the Queens District Attorney's Office have tested positive for COVID-19, worrying colleagues who told Patch last month that the office has been tight-lipped about cases.

In one of the cases, some learned about the person's test result from a video posted on the social media app Tik Tok and reviewed by Patch, in which the prosecutor mentioned having contracted COVID-19.

An intern tested positive for the virus in late October, the Queens Daily Eagle reported, and multiple Queens court officers have also tested positive for the virus since the start of the pandemic.

Meanwhile, high-ranking members of the DA's office have been spotted not wearing masks while around others indoors, according to a lawyer who asked that their name not be used because they fear retaliation.

Even Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz, who contracted COVID-19 in March, has tweeted photos of herself not wearing a mask while working alongside others.