Tuesday was the fourth full day of jury deliberations in the sex trafficking trial of Ghislaine Maxwell, as well as the first day the jury is expected to work longer hours deliberating. Late Monday, judge Alison J. Nathan ordered the jury to start working until 6:00 p.m. each day, as opposed to 5:00 p.m. On Tuesday, she asked jurors to meet every day this week. The trial had been scheduled to break on Thursday and Friday ahead of New Year’s Eve.

Nathan cited an “astronomical spike” in the number of coronavirus cases in New York City as the reason for the extra work. She said changing the schedule could help avoid a potential mistrial.

“We now face a high and escalating risk that jurors and trial participants may need to quarantine,” Nathan told Maxwell trial lawyers. “We are simply in a different place regarding the pandemic than we were a week ago.”

COVID-19 cases in New York City have rocketed from an average of about 3,400 a day in the week that ended Dec. 12 to 22,000 in the week that ended Sunday. The cases have been fueled by the more transmissible Omicron variant.

This is not the first time Nathan has tried to get the jury to work more. Last week, she asked the jury to deliberate for an extra day. They declined.

On Monday, defense lawyer Laura Menninger told the judge that her efforts to get the Maxwell jury to work longer hours “is beginning to sound like urging them to hurry up.”

“We would object to trying to urge them to stay later if they are not asking to do so and aren’t expressing any difficulty in proceeding with the deliberations that they are currently undertaking,” Menninger said. Menninger noted the jury was continuing to request transcripts of trial testimony and other materials, saying those requests indicate the group is working diligently.

Nathan then told the Maxwell jury to let her office know if the longer hours would be a hardship for them. She also reminded them they should take all the time they need to deliberate.