Amid COVID-19 mitigation efforts, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Monday declared a statewide judicial emergency effective until April 14.

With the emergency declaration in place, county president judges are authorized to declare individual county judicial emergencies through April 14, 2020, should they deem it appropriate to protect the health and safety of staff, court users and the community.

McKean County President Judge John Pavlock said late Monday that a limited number of counties’ judges had done so, but he had not.

“This option has been added to our stepped up approach,” Pavlock said. “At this time, based on the data available, we have not declared judicial state of emergency in McKean County.

“However, we have taken measures to limit the number of individuals that are required to appear at the courthouse,” the judge explained. “We are conducting many appointments, such as majority of probation appointments, via video conference.”

Non-immediate things have been postponed.

“We have continued hearings that are not of an emergency nature and/or do not require immediate attention,” Pavlock said. “We are also allowing parties and / or counsel to appear via video link for many proceedings.”

Regarding criminal proceedings, the judge said some steps in a case may be handled without having to appear in person.

“In many cases we are having parties notify the court, without appearing, if case is for entry of a plea, for trial or a continuance is requested,” Pavlock said. “If it is for entry of a plea we will accept the plea and sentence at a later date.”

Sentencing hearings will be spaced further apart too.

“We are going to spread out sentencings so they are not all at the same time — to allow for social distancing,” the judge said. “This Thursday we are giving defendants the option of appearing via video. We would also allow victims to participate via video conference or telephone.”

As the situation with COVID-19 continues, court officials will continue to evaluate how to move forward.