The Cobb County Public Library System said Friday the seven branches that have been reopened since July will be closed “until further notice” because of rising cases of COVID-19.
Those branches include the East Cobb Library, the Mountain View Regional Library and the Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center.
In a press release, the system said patrons can continue to reserve checked-out items for curbside service at those branches, plus Gritters Library in East Cobb and four others elsewhere the county.
Curbside service hours are Mondays from 10 a.m. to 7:45 p.m. and Tuesdays-Fridays from 10 a.m. to 5:45 p.m. The Cobb library branches that had been reopened had been closed on the weekends.
The 12 library branches open for curbside service also will provide telephone reference services during the hours.
In the last eight days Cobb has had two record “date of report” COVID case numbers, including a new high of 443 on Friday.
The “date of onset” metric—or when a case was confirmed by a county health agency—also has been rising in recent weeks, and steeply.
The rising case numbers prompted the Cobb County School District to go all-online to finish the fall semester, and on Friday the district reported 346 new cases in the past week, including 23 at Walton High School.
According to the Georgia Department of Public Health, the rate of community spread in Cobb County is at its highest point since the pandemic began in March, with a 14-day average of 554 cases per 100,000.
Here’s more from the Cobb library system on resources that will remain available to the public:
All outdoor Cobb library book return boxes will remain open, with the exception of Switzer Library as the facility in downtown Marietta is under renovation.
In addition to offering curbside service at Cobb libraries, Cobb library online digital resources – eBooks, eAudiobooks, digital magazines, streaming videos, databases and more – are offered through www.cobbcat.org.
Information about reference questions from the public is also provided through the library’s virtual reference service, Ask-a-Librarian, at www.cobbcat.org/ask-a-librarian.
For more information on Cobb library resources and services, visit www.cobbcat.org/use-the-library-from-home or call 770-528-2320.
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