A federal judge has granted a request from attorneys for Chris Collins to delay the beginning of the former congressman's prison sentence two more months.

Collins will now be required to report on June 23. The attorneys, in a letter to U.S. District Court Judge Vernon Broderick, cited the coronavirus pandemic as the reason they asked for an extension.

They said Collins is at high risk because he is over the age of 65 and has underlying health conditions. Incarceration, the attorneys pointed out, could increase his chances of contracting the virus.

"We respectfully submit that the unprecedented circumstances described above concerning the spread of COVID-19 in the United States, the extreme danger to elderly prisoners with high risk factors who enter or remain in incarceration, and the fact that BOP may have to isolate new prisoners in local and county facilities that may be ill-equipped for such tasks, combined with Mr. Collins’ own high risk factors for susceptibility to severe COVID-19 illness, constitutes good cause for continuing the Report Date of Mr. Collins to the designated facility from April 21, 2020 to 2:00 p.m. on June 23, 2020," they wrote.

The former congressman pleaded guilty to felonies related to insider trading and lying to federal authorities earlier this year and the judge sentenced him to 26 months in prison. He now lives in Florida and has requested to serve his term at a federal prison in Pensacola.

This is the second time the judge has extended the date for Collins to surrender himself. The court previously granted a motion to move the date from March to April.

June 23 is also now the scheduled date for both the special election to fill New York's 27th Congressional District seat, vacated by Collins in the fall of last year, and the district's primary election.