8 confirmed COVID-19 cases at Public Library, computer lab and meeting rooms closed until Feb. 10

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (CLARKSVILLENOW) – In an effort to stop the spread of COVID-19, the Clarksville-Montgomery County Public Library has closed the computer lab and meeting rooms within the library until Feb. 10 due to eight confirmed cases of the virus on Tuesday.

Patrons will still be allowed to browse the bookshelves and check out books until February, and all in-person services and programming at the library have been on hold since March 18, 202o, according to a news release from county spokeswoman Michelle Newell.

“We have followed all guidelines outlined by County Government requiring all employees and patrons to wear masks and our employees maintain a 6-foot distance or greater from all patrons. Contact with patrons is extremely minimal mostly due to technological advances that were implemented a few years ago. We decided to take extra caution and temporarily close the meeting rooms and the computer lab,” Library Director Martha Hendricks said in that release.

In total, the Public Library employees 46 individuals.

“All together, we had 11 people out on Friday. Four of them were considered that they may have been exposed, so those four tests came back today and there was one additional one, so all together it is eight (positive) cases and the other three are no longer quarantined,” Newell told Clarksville Now.

The only exception to the closures of the meeting room space is the Montgomery County Government Red Cross Blood Drive, which is set to take place on Monday, Feb. 1, due to the critical need for blood, according to the release.

The large meeting room will not exceed 10 people inside at a time during the blood drive, and appointments are scheduled online, Newell said in the release.

“The highest case count we’ve had in a single department was at Montgomery County Animal Care and Control, and that’s when we couldn’t do a continuation of service,” Newell said.

Newell said when MCACC closed on Dec. 31, the volume of cases interrupted the department’s ability to simultaneously provide service to the public and take care of the animals. The number of cases at the library is not interring with the employees’ ability to service the public’s needs, according to Newell.