Georgia’s chief justice has issued a new extension of a nine-month-old judicial emergency declaration addressing the COVID-19 pandemic, but he included an advisory for judges this time. 

In his new order, which will expire Jan. 8, Chief Justice Harold Melton left in place his earlier decisions to allow grand juries and in-person jury trials to resume, even though public health reports indicate that “COVID-19 conditions are worsening dramatically in many parts of the state.” But Melton also advised judges to “remain vigilant of changing COVID-19 conditions” and be prepared to once again suspend jury trials and grand juries.