THE CHIEF JUDGE ON OMICRON

Without our usual snarkiness,  here is Judge Sayfie on what Omicron means for the immediate future:

Good morning, All.  While 2022 is not starting out as we expected I hope that it finds you all healthy and well so far.

 

As you all know Omicron is tearing through the country and in Miami we are ahead of the curve, as usual.  The positivity rate as of yesterday is 35% and it is still rising.  At our latest COVID task force meeting yesterday afternoon, all 3 of our doctors were present and gave us the medical update which continues to be serious.  While this variant is milder, hospitalizations are still high and rising.  Over 80% of hospitalizations are unvaccinated individuals.  The remaining are overwhelmingly transplant recipients.  Patients in hospitals cannot receive visitors.  The education and mental health of school aged children are deteriorating.  Many businesses cannot operate because of staffing shortages.  The ripple effect of this disease continues to be far reaching. 

 

The doctors all concur that everyone should be vaccinated and boosted.  In addition to protecting yourself, you will protect those you come into contact with, and vaccination continues to be the path out of the pandemic.  They further stated that we should avoid jury trials for at least the next 2 weeks.  I will be checking in with them every few days so that we can have accurate information.  But for now they concur that it would be impossible to manage a jury trial without an infection…aka a mistrial. They recommend N95 or KN95 masks for any and all indoor activities.  If any of you would like to speak directly with one of our medical experts yourself please let me know and I will facilitate.

 

Added to this is the fact that the Clerk’s Office and Miami-Dade Corrections have been ravaged by Omicron.  In our own AOC family we have many divisions and departments that have 100% positivity among their members. This is not including people who were out for the holidays and may not have reported an infection. So I ask that you continue to consider the COC and MDCR, as well as our other justice partners, as you set your hearings and trials, both in person and virtual.

 

I know you all join me in my frustration.  It was my plan to greet you this week with a welcome back to largely in person practices.  But we are not there yet.

 

I urge you all to take this time to do what you did so well in 2021: case management.   Many of you have been successful at resolving your cases and lowering your caseloads in spite of the challenges.  Please keep it up.

 

The good news about Omicron is it will likely leave us faster than Delta did.  So we are hoping and praying that by the end of this month the numbers will be falling and falling rapidly.  Until then, please be safe.  And if you have a trial that you think needs to go forward (i.e. speedy trial expiration) please let your Administrative Judge know ASAP.

 

Thank you so much for your flexibility and resilience.  Please feel free to call me if you would like to discuss this further.

 

Nushin G. Sayfie, Circuit Court Judge

Chief Judge of the 11^th Judicial Circuit of Florida

175 NW 1^st Avenue, Suite 3045

Miami, FL  33128

(305) 349-5720

nsayfie@jud11.flcourts.org

www.jud11.flcourts.org

SURF'S UP

" Let's go surfin now; everybody's learnin how;                                                                     come on and go Covid Omicron surfin with me."

With apologies to the Beach Boys, the Omicron Covid wave is cresting and about to hit the shores of the United States. 

If you get the "media advisories" from the SAO, then you will know multiple prosecutors have come down with Covid over the last few days. And yet...having been in the courthouse frequently the last two weeks, we continually see prosecutors in court sans masks. As if they think they cannot get Covid. 

For allegedly smart and accomplished people, they are pretty dumb. 

The CDC is reporting not only two-vaccine Omicron vaccine breakthrough, but booster breakthrough as well. Now, before you lunk heads who are not vaccinated start emailing us about how this proves vaccines are worthless, they are not. The data is that there is significant protection with the booster, and the hospitalization rates for vaccinated people are very low. Trust us, there is a significant difference being home and being miserable and lying in a hospital room as they pump propofol in you as you lose consciousness as you're being intubated, with the knowledge these are most likely your last conscious thoughts for eternity.  Or pretty much the same way you feel waiting to be called in Hialeah branch court. 

So here is the problem. Since Omicron acts like Rumpole on cross (break throughs and breakdowns) then medical personnel are going to be hit as well. Which means when you go to the ER because you're having trouble breathing, and there is a line of 2-3 thousand people ahead of you, and there are no doctors or nurses  because they are home sick, you're going to wish you were vaccinated. 

Meanwhile we want to know what our courts are going to do? 

Federal magistrates have in person hearings. The REGJB is mixed. But lawyers, clerks, litigants and even judges should not be in public during Omicron. 

Other than that, have a happy holiday season. 

OMICRON

 Here's what we know about the new variant. It is highly transmissible. It has over thirty changes to the spike protein of the Covid virus, which potentially makes it more infectious and perhaps less resistant to a vaccine. By contrast, the Delta Variant had two changes to the spike protein. 

Omicron has been detected in people in England, Germany, Italy, and India. Most EU countries and the US have announced travel restrictions on people coming from Africa. Israel locked down, prohibiting any foreigners from entering the country.  By this time next week, if not sooner, you will be reading about Omicron cases in the US. We have an interconnected world. Other than sealing the boarders- which isn't a bad idea for two weeks- Omicron will be here, if it isn't here already (and it probably is). 

The good news is that vaccine companies have said they can  change their MRNA vaccines within 100 days to block the new spike proteins on the new variant. The CDC is also conducting tests to see how effective the current vaccines are. There is no proof at the moment that the current vaccines do not stop Omicron- especially since the tracking chip the vaccines implant allow Microsoft to track vaccinated people, including those in Africa. 

Here's what we are calling on Chief Judges Sayfie and Altonaga  to do: Require everyone who enters a courthouse in Dade County to show proof of vaccine and to wear a mask. People have the option of showing up on zoom if needed. We once again remind you- if a judge can order us to wear a jacket and tie in August, if a judge can revoke a bond or deny bond on a new arrest, a judge can require people to wear masks in court. They might not be able to make someone get a vaccine, but they can deny entry to anyone who doesn't want the Gates/Fauci/Trilateral Commission  chip in their body. 

Omicron could be nothing more than Delta on steroids. Or it could be a lot worse. We do not think it is worth risking anyone's health to find out. Stop jury trials for misdemeanors until the end of the year. Quite frankly stop all trials until the first week of January.

 We will know more in a few weeks. Why risk it?