In the early hours of March 4, 2020, U.S. Magistrate Judge Stacie Beckerman of the District of Oregon received an urgent email message from another magistrate judge in Seattle. The local federal detention center in the Western District of Washington had issued a 48-hour lockdown due to a suspected case of the coronavirus.

The Seattle magistrate was reaching out to magistrates from around the Ninth Circuit to get their takes on how to run a criminal calendar under the circumstances. In this case, even the jail’s audio-visual equipment was off-limits to those in custody awaiting trial due to lockdowns meant to prevent the spread of the virus, which was beginning to get a foothold in the Seattle area.