Jacksonville will reopen its main library Dec. 13 , almost four months after the library was shut down to use as a monoclonal antibody treatment site.
The treatment site at the library will run through Dec. 9, and the city will conduct a deep cleaning of the building Dec. 10.
Mayor Lenny Curry announced Tuesday on Twitter that the library will reopen due to the "dramatic reduction in COVID-19 cases." The site has distributed 11,352 Regeneron doses since it opened in mid-August.
The monoclonal antibody clinic will moved to the Joseph Lee Center at 5120 Perry St. and will be open for patients starting Dec. 10. The hours of operation will be the same as the current clinic at the library, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day.
Before Tuesday's announcement, the city had not provided any plan about when the library would reopen or details about how low cases had to go to reopen it. Average daily doses distributed at the site had fallen to less than 50 earlier this month.
Julia Gordie, the head of social services at the Salvation Army in Jacksonville, told WJCT in September that she saw a link between the library’s closure and a spike in the number of homeless people on the streets.
“We have seen more of an influx of people off the streets looking for shelter, food and water than normal and believe the library being closed has contributed to this some,” Gordie said. “Unfortunately, we do not have the computer capacity to help them.”
There were fewer than 300 COVID cases countywide last week, according to the latest data from the Florida Department of Health.
