An Ebola Continuity of Operations Plan and the Lessons Learned when a Judiciary in America’s Hot Zone Operationalized it for COVID-19

The judiciary has long recognized the need to plan for emergencies to ensure that the court can sustain its operation and serve the public when a crisis occurs. This study evaluated the continuity of operations plan (COOP) of a Northeast court system in the US that was developed during the Ebola epidemic of 2014 and later administered in response to the Coronavirus Disease of 2019 (COVID-19). Court management literature together with contextual healthcare articles were reviewed so that links could be drawn across these research domains to show how the court’s operations are affected by a pandemic. Topical trends and capabilities were discovered by the judiciary as it sought to operate various components of the court during the COVID-19 shutdown. A cross-sectional design was employed to collect and analyze the data. Observational data that included meeting notes and minutes together with the resultant policy and procedure were drawn from the selected court during the Ebola epidemic. These annotations were later juxtaposed with information provided by judges and administrators of the select court while the plan was operationalized during COVID-19. Secondary data was analyzed using measurements of central tendency and depicted across a series of distribution charts. The findings brought to bear the disparities that exist between the theory and praxis of the COOP paradigm particularly when such planning efforts are applied specifically to pandemics because it did not fully account for the differences that infectious disease outbreaks have on the system. Conclusions and recommendations centered around the four constructs of communication, collaboration, information technology and infrastructure.