This is a bad idea, and an unnecessary one. New York law didn’t allow such discretion before the reforms. Criminal justice experts say that is likely to worsen racial disparities in the courts. And for years in New York, judges used their discretion to regularly set bail poor people couldn’t afford.

Rolling back these reforms is almost certain to lead to an increase in the number of people in New York’s jails. In normal times, that would be unacceptable.

But as New York stares down one of the worst public health crises in a century, it is unthinkable.

Just ask the people who work in the jails. On Tuesday, the New York City Board of Correction, which oversees the jails, requested that the city and state “drastically” reduce the number of people in custody, which this week hovered around 5,400. The board asked the city to begin with the most vulnerable people in custody, and those serving sentences of under a year.

Over the past several days, a total of about 65 people were released from the city’s jails. The task may not be a simple one, but to make an impact, Mayor Bill de Blasio, along with the city’s prosecutors, who are involved in the process, will have to work much faster. They need help from Governor Cuomo, who can move to release state offenders who are in local jails because of technical parole violations.

This is not just a New York concern. Montana’s chief justice on Friday issued a letter to judges across that state asking them to take similar measures. “We ask that you review your jail rosters and release, without bond, as many prisoners as you are able, especially those being held for nonviolent offenses,” Mike McGrath, chief justice of the Montana Supreme Court, wrote.