Twenty-eight people gathered in a Denver courtroom Thursday — nearly triple the maximum group size recommended by health officials — as a judge and attorneys worked through the morning’s docket.

Nobody said the word “coronavirus” or “pandemic” but the new reality was evident. Many hearings were rescheduled for May. One defense attorney asked for permission for two of her clients — a pregnant woman and a mother with a asthmatic toddler — to call into their hearings instead of coming to court. Another attorney asked for an emergency bond hearing for an immunocompromised client incarcerated in Denver’s Downtown Detention Center.

The hearing Thursday shows how Colorado’s courts are scrambling to adjust to a new normal as the judicial system becomes one of the few large government machinations trundling along in the face of the coronavirus. While the chief justice of the Colorado Supreme Court issued guidance last week postponing many trials, the order left the bulk of decisions up to local judicial districts.

That has resulted in a patchwork of rules and procedures in Colorado’s courts, varying courthouse by courthouse and, in some cases, by individual judge. Defense attorneys working to get their clients out of jail — where the spread of the novel coronavirus would be difficult to contain if introduced — say their success varies by judge and prosecutors’ office.

“With 22 judicial districts spread across the state, you’re going to get 22 remedies for the judicial process,” Fifth Judicial District Attorney Bruce Brown said.

For example, court operations in Denver and the 18th Judicial District vary widely, though they are both large urban districts. The chief judge in the 18th Judicial District automatically postponed almost all hearings through April 3, including trials. The hearings that will continue mostly involve defendants who are in jail and emergency protection orders.

In Denver, in-person hearings for defendants free on bond continued Thursday and Friday because the chief judge had not issued an order postponing hearings en masse. That means that people and attorneys from all over the metro area traveled into the city to courtrooms to reschedule hearings in person. And in Adams County, jury selection for a death penalty trial will continue, despite a judge’s order postponing nearly all other court business.

The variation across the state has led to confusion and a lack of predictability across the criminal justice system, Tom Raynes, executive director of the Colorado District Attorney’s Council, said in a news release.

Gov. Jared Polis would not say whether he would issue guidelines for prisons, jails and courts when asked by a reporter Friday.

Many other states, like Texas and Washington, have also adopted a county-by-county approach. Dozens of states have suspended jury trials, but the fate of many other hearings are left to local decisions. On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court postponed all oral arguments until further notice and closed its doors for the first time in more than a century.

Policies in Colorado can differ between judges in the same courthouse, said 14th Judicial District Attorney Matt Karzen, whose office covers Routt, Grand and Moffat counties. He still sees large crowds of people in courthouses, which some judges have worked hard to prevent and others haven’t.

“On a statewide level, as far as the criminal justice system goes, this is an unprecedented crisis that screams out for consistent leadership so far from the legislature or the Supreme Court,” Karzen said. “In my opinion, that hasn’t happened yet.”

Some judges don’t seem to be taking the seriousness of the disease very seriously and seem to think the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are overblowing the situation, said Darren Cantor, deputy director of the Office of Alternate Defense Counsel.

“We have some courts that are continuing largely as business as usual,” he said. “While there’s a ban on jury summonses, there are lots of other court appearances that frankly in this time of emergency and pandemic don’t need to be had.”

Multiple district attorneys said they are working with judges, law enforcement and defense attorneys to try to keep non-violent and low-risk arrestees out of jails. Some also are working to release some inmates early or temporarily while the spread of the virus remains a risk. Earlier this week, the Colorado Office of the Public Defender, the defense attorney’s bar and numerous criminal justice reform advocates called for many jail and prison inmates to be released during the pandemic.

The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office on Thursday announced it will release some inmates who have served at least half of their sentence in an effort to mitigate the spread of the virus inside. Law enforcement in Boulder and Denver are also limiting who they arrest.

Prosecutors in the Denver District Attorney’s Office are working to release at-risk inmates, like pregnant woman and older people, who have little time left on their prison sentences, spokeswoman Carolyn Tyler said. Prosecutors are also trying to keep people out of the jail who do not pose a public safety risk by agreeing to lower bonds. Denver District Court Chief Judge Michael Martinez on Friday also ordered judges to agree, when appropriate, to the release of at-risk jail inmates, those with less than 30 days on their sentence and those on work release.

Brown, the district attorney for Summit, Eagle, Clear Creek and Lake counties, invited defense attorneys to contact his office if their client is in jail on pre-trial because they can’t afford bond. He has instructed his prosecutors to agree to non-monetary bonds as much as possible.

“I consider the fact that we’re going through a pandemic a good reason to take a look at those,” he said. “It would be foolish to not do so amid the changes in circumstances.”

Brown called on Polis to enact more strict guidelines regarding courts and the coronavirus and to extend state deadlines for jury trials.

“While public spaces across our community are putting up ‘closed’ signs, Colorado courthouses, in a titanic-sized blind gesture, are steering full steam into the virus’ grip,” Brown wrote in a letter sent Wednesday to Polis’ office.

At least one district attorney is not pleased with the suggestion inmates should be release. Eleventh District Attorney Kaitlin Turner wrote in a news release Thursday that defense attorneys’ claims that inmates are not safe from COVID-19 were unfounded and criticized judges who were reducing sentences.

“The 11th Judicial District Attorney’s Office is confident that our Sheriff’s Offices in Fremont, Chaffee, Park, and Custer County are equipped and ready to provide for the safety and welfare of their inmates in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak while also accomplishing their mission of safeguarding the public,” Turner wrote.