1.4.22 – KOCO – OKLAHOMA CITY
Across the metro, businesses are struggling to keep enough staff healthy to stay open.
Businesses around Oklahoma are struggling to keep staff COVID-19 free.
Across the metro, businesses are struggling to keep enough staff healthy to stay open. The library in Warr Acres opened later than usual on Tuesday because some of the staff tested positive for COVID-19.Advertisement
Unfortunately, this has been a common occurrence lately.
“We’ve had six libraries close within the last two weeks, which has been a big increase. In the last couple of months, we haven’t closed hardly at all,” Kimberly Terry, the public relations manager at the Metropolitan Library System.
Libraries across the metro are getting hit with COVID-19, which is forcing cleaning closures.
“Part of our procedures is when we get a suspected or confirmed case, when an employee has been in multiple areas throughout the library, we hire a team to come in and disinfect the building,” Terry said.
However, they are not the only business impacted. Food and Shelter Inc., in Norman, said in a post on Facebook that they, too, will be closed for a while.
In a message on Tuesday, they told KOCO 5 that the food pantry service is closed because staff and volunteers are quarantined with COVID and they didn’t have staff available to open. They hope to be open again on Wednesday after a few days of shutdown.
Health experts said that businesses will continue to struggle because cases and quarantines are rising.
“I think it’ll get worse before it gets better. I really think Oklahoma is a couple of weeks behind other parts of the country in terms of big jumps in the number of new cases,” said Dr. Dale Bratzler, the OU Chief COVID Officer.
Along with the libraries closing to disinfect, the staff is also mandated to quarantine for a period of time.