The district attorney for Kennebec and Somerset counties reported Thursday that the office’s employee who tested positive for coronavirus eight days ago has made a full recovery, but two others who have been tested are awaiting results.

District Attorney Maeghan Maloney

In the meantime District Attorney Maeghan Maloney announced in a statement released Thursday that her office, in response to the wave of unemployment brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, will waive all supervision fees for deferred dispositions starting Friday until further notice.

The suspension doesn’t affect restitution payments to victims. Money ordered to be paid to victims is still due and owing, according to the release.

Unemployment claims are at a record high in the state with 21,459 new claims submitted from March 15 to March 21.

In a telephone call Thursday, Maloney said she is also hopeful that court proceedings, which have been put on hold due to the pandemic, can resume by using video conferencing.

“What’s been canceled has been arraignments because during those, people receive a piece of paper to tell them when they need to be in court,” Maloney said. “To do that via video would be far more complicated because we need to know that person who needs to appear has access to a computer …”

Maloney is hoping the state will approve bench trials, which are trials by judge and not by jury that can be conducted through video conferencing.

“The only people who need to appear are the prosecutor, defense attorney, judge and the defendant,” she said. “… It would be nice to get those going because I know people would appreciate having their cases heard.”

Maloney said she’s waiting to hear from the state court system on whether they will proceed in that manner.

“It’s just a matter of making the decision,” she said. “We’ve already tested it out and everything works.”

The employee who tested positive experienced mild symptoms, Maloney said on March 18, and other employees who asked to be tested were told they wouldn’t be unless they exhibited symptoms.

The office employs 24 people, all of whom were instructed to work from home beginning on March 16.

Since the unidentified employee tested positive, two other employees have been tested but are still waiting for the results.

“Two others were successful in getting a test,” Maloney said Thursday. “We really thought they’d be back by now, but they are considered low risk because they haven’t experienced any respiratory distress.”

Maloney said the employee who tested positive has made a full recovery, and a doctor has cleared the employee to work from home.