SAN ANTONIO – The Bexar County Court at Law 13 will be closed for the next two weeks after a defendant being processed on Friday disclosed that he had been with someone who was exposed to the new coronavirus in Italy.
Judge Rosie Speedlin Gonzalez said she is self-quarantining for 14 days after a defendant in court for a bond hearing made the disclosure. Everyone in the courtroom was sent home around 12:30 p.m.
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“When he was being processed right outside our courtroom to get sent down to the jail, he disclosed that he had exposure to someone who self-quarantined and had had extensive contact with this individual who has been in Italy within the last week and a half,” Gonzalez told KSAT.
The defendant “did not meet the criteria for screening,” Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales said in a statement Friday.
Regardless, the court will be closed for the next two weeks to allow everyone in the courtroom, including the judge and her staff, to self quarantine.
Gonzalez asked the county about deep cleaning the courtroom and her office out of precaution.
COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the new virus, stands for coronavirus disease 2019. The disease first appeared in late 2019 in Wuhan, China, but spread around the world in early 2020, causing the World Health Organization to declare a pandemic in March.
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