Coronavirus Joliet: Public Libraries Closed For 18 Days

JOLIET, IL — The Joliet Public Library issued a press release on Friday afternoon indicating it planned to stay open come next week, however, by Friday night, things were different. Around 10 p.m., the Joliet Public Library announced on its Facebook page it would not be open to customers on Saturday. In fact, Joliet's library won't be open at any point the rest of this month.

Joliet has two library branches, the one downtown on Ottawa Street and the one on Black Road.

Library officials said they were taking these measures to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus. So far, there have been zero cases in Joliet and none in Will County.

However, the library plans to keep its Black Road branch open on Tuesday only as an election polling site since March 17 is the Illinois primary.

"Staff will continue to work from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday, and will provide drive through services at Black Road and virtual reference to patrons," Joliet library officials noted.

On Friday afternoon, the governor ordered all Illinois schools to be closed as of March 17. There are now 46 confirmed coronavirus cases in the state, all but one in Cook County.

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