St. Louis County Library has temporarily closed two branches in the last week due to positive COVID-19 cases, including one in South County.
The Weber Road Library in Affton is still closed Wednesday after it was shut down Thursday, July 16, after an employee tested positive for COVID-19. The branch will be disinfected before reopening to the public, but library officials did not yet know when the building will reopen.
The Samuel Sachs Library in Chesterfield became the latest library branch to close Wednesday, after a staff member tested positive for COVID-19.
The book drops will also be unavailable during the closure — the library said that patrons can return library materials to other SLCL locations.
It is unclear how long it will be before the libraries are reopened to the public. After all libraries closed in March at the start of the global pandemic, libraries reopened with limited capacity June 19, with masks required and only a certain number of visitors allowed at one time per building.
- Weber Road and Sachs will be disinfected by a professional cleaning company before reopening to the public.
- Library administration has informed the St. Louis County Department of Public Health, which will be conducting contact tracing.
- The library said that employees at all SLCL locations follow CDC and St. Louis County safety guidelines including wearing masks, practicing social distancing, limiting prolonged interactions between staff and patrons, installing plexiglass barriers, quarantining returned materials for 72 hours, and following enhanced cleaning procedures.
- When visiting an SLCL branch, patrons 9 years and older are required to wear a mask.
- Additional safety guidelines include limiting building capacity and duration of visits–a full list of safety procedures is available at www.slcl.org/reopening.
Visitors 9 years and older are required to wear a mask, additional safety guidelines include limiting building capacity and duration of visits–a full list of safety procedures is available at www.slcl.org/reopening. Check the St. Louis County Library website for ongoing COVID-19 updates.
The first branch to close due to an employee testing positive for COVID-19 occurred just days after the county library system reopened. The Natural Bridge Branch in North County closed temporarily for disinfection in June.
