Northern District says jury trials will resume Thursday

The Northern District of California will resume jury trials Thursday after suspending them earlier this month due to the Omicron variant of COVID-19, court spokesperson Nicholas Jackson confirmed.

The decision, announced Wednesday, comes as courts across the state take different approaches to dealing with the infectious variant, which has prompted sharp rises in case counts.

The Central District of California, based in Los Angeles, has extended its suspension of jury trials through the end of February.

Some courts have continued holding hearings but have limited or eliminated courthouse access for anyone except for parties, jurors, attorneys, and key staff.

San Mateo County Superior Court, which has delayed trials this month because so many employees have been out sick or tested positive for the virus, plans to resume trials next week, Court Executive Officer Neal Taniguchi wrote in an email Wednesday.

Santa Clara County Superior Court has continued holding hearings and trials but is keeping almost everyone not directly involved out of its courthouses through the end of January.

"Our court is experiencing a significant number of employee absences, creating staffing shortages across all departments," Santa Clara County Presiding Judge Theodore C. Zayner wrote.

The suspension in the Northern District, based in San Francisco, lasted three weeks.

In the Southern District of California, based in San Diego, Chief Judge Dana Sabraw decided to avoid a district-wide policy.

"We're allowing each judge to make his or her own call," he said in an interview earlier this month.