Manatee shuts down all libraries due to COVID-19 outbreak, staffing shortages
One day after a COVID-19 outbreak among employees forced the Manatee Downtown Central Library to be shut down, county officials announced a plan to temporarily close all locations.
The county’s other five library branches closed at their regular times Thursday and will be closed until at least Aug. 23, according to County Administrator Scott Hopes.
Just this week, there were six employees at the Central Library who tested positive and another 16 staffers who were exposed to them. Contact tracing is underway in an effort to inform visitors who may have been exposed to library employees.
“There weren’t enough staff because we had so many in quarantine, either having COVID or because of exposure,” said Hopes, explaining that the county didn’t have enough healthy workers available to keep the location open.
Anyone who is concerned about a recent visit to the Central Library is asked to contact the Department of Health and provide their name and the date of their visit. According to Hopes, that information will assist in contact tracing efforts.
During a Friday afternoon briefing with local media, Hopes said he believes the library system’s outbreak stems from an Information Technology worker who tested positive. That person works in the county’s Neighborhood Services Department and frequents all of Manatee’s libraries.
“In order to ensure our libraries won’t be a source of COVID to the public, those will be closed for 10 days,” Hopes said.
Since May 3, the county has had 77 employees who have tested positive for the coronavirus — 19 of whom have been vaccinated. The library system’s temporary shutdown comes as the virus’ delta variant continues to drive a record-breaking surge of COVID-19 cases in Florida.
Hopes, who holds a master’s degree in epidemiology, has repeatedly urged county employees and members of the public to receive a COVID-19 vaccine in order to slow the spread of the virus throughout the community.
An additional 169 employees have been exposed to the virus, three employees have died from COVID-19 and multiple employees have been hospitalized. That number was not immediately known.
Manatee County is one of the only local municipalities that has publicly shared the impact of the virus on its workforce.
Temporarily shutting down the library system is out of an abundance of caution, said Hopes, who noted that there are no known outbreaks at any location besides the Central Library.
“Not as of this point,” he said. “But it’s evident that the hospitals are full. We have multiple exposures and cases throughout Manatee County, just like businesses.”
COVID-19 has continued to take its toll on the county’s workforce, Hopes said. This week alone, 23 employees tested positive, along with 47 known exposures to positive workers. Half of those cases were breakthrough cases among fully-vaccinated staff.
“We continue to encourage our employees to get vaccinated,” Hopes said. “We continue to recommend that, if you’re un-vaccinated, to wear a mask.”
The Florida Department of Health in Manatee County has assigned two staffers to Manatee County government because of the extensive contact tracing effort that is now underway. The contact tracers are working on putting together epidemiological timelines for each of the county’s departments.
Manatee’s library system isn’t the first department to suffer from a widespread outbreak. In June, county officials were forced to shut down the Administrative Center in downtown Bradenton temporarily after an outbreak devastated the Information Services Department, causing the deaths of two employees and sending three to the hospital.
In recent months, Hopes has urged county employees to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. There have been a number of vaccination opportunities for staff at the Administrative Center. For more information on vaccination, visit www.MyManatee.org/vaccine.
This story was originally published August 12, 2021 at 7:07 PM.
