BOISE, Idaho — Visitors to the Ada County Courthouse will be required to wear face masks when inside the building beginning Monday, August 9. This includes court personnel, participants in court proceedings and members of the public.
The administrative district judge for the Fourth Judicial District issued the order, which follows an order issued June 24 by the Idaho Supreme Court. The policy was created in consideration of the county's seven-day moving average incidence rate of COVID-19 cases, which was 28.6 per 100,000 as of August 5.
The new mask policy does not include the first or third floor of the courthouse, which is where the county commissioners' and prosecutor's offices are. However, county clerk staff on the first floor will be required to wear masks.
In courtrooms, witnesses will not be required to wear a mask while testifying. Court interpreters also may go unmasked while they are interpreting.
Under the new order, people entering the courthouse will be required to "wear a mask that covers the nose and mouth, and maintain six feet of social distance from anyone that does not live in their household."
The order also states court proceedings may return to remote settings if necessary.
Those required to wear a face-covering while in the courthouse include:
- Clerks interacting with members of the public at the clerk's counter at the Juvenile Court building and on the first-floor clerks' counter of the Ada County Courthouse, and members of the public seeking service at such clerks' counters, must wear masks that cover the nose and mouth.
- Any person entering the public common areas on the second, fourth and fifth floors of the Ada County Courthouse, or the public areas of the Juvenile Court building, including the hallways and restrooms therein, must wear a mask that covers the nose and mouth and must maintain six feet of social distance from any person that does not live in their household.
Masks must also be worn in the following settings:
- In common areas of the secured portions of the Juvenile Court Building and such areas of the second, fourth and fifth floors of the Ada County Courthouse, including hallways, restrooms, break rooms and conference rooms, and the secured elevator on the north face of the Ada County Courthouse, all persons must wear a mask that covers the nose and mouth and maintain six feet of social distance from any person that does not live in their household.
- In any anteroom, jury deliberation room, or courtroom when members of the public (including parties, counsel, witnesses and jurors) are present during a court proceeding, all persons in such room must wear a mask that covers the nose and mouth, and -- if feasible -- maintain six feet of physical distance from any person who does not live in their household.
Failure to comply with the new mask policy may be treated as contempt of court.
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