Coronavirus Cluster In Queens DA Office Puts Staff On High Alert

KEW GARDENS, QUEENS — A cluster of coronavirus cases among employees of the Queens District Attorney's Office, who continue to work in-person at reduced capacity, has forced colleagues into quarantine and has the agency warning employees that "it is best practice to assume that everyone has been exposed," as one administrator put it.

At least 10 employees with the Queens District Attorney's Office have reported testing positive for COVID-19 since Friday, according to emails from Chief of Staff Camille Chin-Kee-Fatt that were reviewed by Patch.

The cases include four employees who work in felony trial bureau two and the appeals and detective bureaus, according to an email sent to employees Wednesday. The divisions where the other six work were not disclosed.

Employees, at least some of whom have been working in-person since October, are now being urged to limit contact with others and conduct meetings virtually.

"I think it is best practice to assume that everyone has been exposed and act accordingly by wearing face coverings and limiting any in-person contact," Chin-Kee-Fatt wrote in an email Monday. "We must limit our contact at this time as much as we can, which includes meeting and IT/Facilities repairs."

In an emailed statement to Patch, a spokesperson for the Queens District Attorney's Office reiterated that "everyone" should consider themselves exposed and get tested frequently.

"The safety and health of our staff is a priority for us as we endeavor to fulfill the functions of the office and obligations to the members of Queens county," the spokesperson wrote.

After Patch contacted the Queens District Attorney's Office requesting comment for this article, Chin-Kee-Fatt emailed employees with "one point of clarity."

"By everyone—I meant all of us as residents in the New York area should assume that we have been exposed and take the necessary safety precautions," she wrote.

"To all of our colleagues who continue to battle this virus, you are in our thoughts."

None of the 10 cases appear to be listed on the the New York Office of Court Administration's webpage alerting the public to COVID-19 cases, which typically specifies the title and employer of those who test positive — distinguishing between employees with DA's offices and defense lawyers, court employees or visitors.

A spokesperson previously told Patch that cases are listed "in a timely fashion" after the agency verifies details.

Four Queens criminal court employees reported positive COVID-19 tests in the last week, according to the Office of Court Administration.

Not all of the four Kew Gardens buildings where Queens District Attorney's Office staffers work are court facilities required to report cases to the Office of Court Administration, the agency's spokesperson said.

The Queens District Attorney's Office has nominally been operating at 25-percent capacity since November. A spokesperson told Patch on Wednesday that the 25-percent capacity remains in place and that "the majority of the office is working remotely."

But the on-the-ground reality varies depending on the division where employees work, according to an employee who asked that their name not be used for fear of retaliation. Employees' schedules, and whether they're being required to report to work in-person, are up to their individual bureau chiefs.

At least some have been working in-person under a hybrid model that has some report to the office just in the morning and others in the afternoon and evening, a lawyer told Patch, relaying information from one such prosecutor.

As the anonymous employee who spoke to Patch put it, "Assume everyone exposed but still come to work and do brave justice. It’s a farce."

Meanwhile, high-ranking officers, such as Criminal Court Unit Chief Kevin Fogarty and Felony Trial Bureau Four Unit Chief Neil Gitin, have been spotted without face masks during in-person court appearances, the Queens Daily Eagle has reported.

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz, who faced her own bout of COVID-19 in March, has also gone without a mask while around other staffers indoors.

The vast majority of in-person court proceedings were suspended statewide in November to prevent COVID-19's spread, though courts may hold in-person proceedings that have been deemed "absolutely necessary," according to a Nov. 25 memo to the Queens District Attorney's Office from Administrative Judge Joseph Zayas, which was obtained by Patch.

The shift away from in-person proceedings in courthouses, where coronavirus cases must be reported, makes it likelier that coronavirus cases among prosecutors and other Queens District Attorney's Office staffers will not become public knowledge.

At least 14 employees at Queens criminal court have tested positive for the coronavirus in the last month, according to the New York Office of Court Administration's webpage.

The most recent COVID-19 case to be reported among employees of the Queens District Attorney's Office was Nov. 16.