Blaine County Library

Blaine County Library will be closed Thursday November 26th in observance of Thanksgiving Day. We wish everyone a safe and happy Thanksgiving!

As we enter another week of the pandemic and continue to reach frightening new milestones, it occurs to me how important it is that we all work together. Everyone must do their part to help stop the spread of this virus. Many of you probably know that my husband and I had COVID last month. We had relatively mild cases compared to many, although I did lose my sense of taste and smell for 5 days and my husband is still using oxygen. It has been over a month since our symptoms appeared, but it is still a struggle to make it through some days and we have lingering effects from this illness and many long-term effects are still unknown.

If you are contacted by Blaine County Health Department, please, please take it seriously and do what you are asked to do regardless of how healthy you may feel. Also please remember that they are just doing their job, so be polite! If you have COVID, isolate! If you are a close contact, you must quarantine for 14 days. That means you stay home, you don’t go to work, the post office or the grocery store or any place else! I know people who have done all these things and I cannot for the life of me understand why anyone would put so many innocent people in danger. If you need something from the pharmacy, I can tell you from my own experience that they are a fantastic resource. They will tell you what the currently recommended over the counter treatments are, they will set up a charge account if needed and they do curbside delivery, which has been godsend for my family. Likewise, if you need groceries, Finley’s will also do curbside service. If you need someone to get something for you call the library. I would be happy to help anyone out.

There have been multiple scientific studies proving the effectiveness of using masks. I wear a mask to protect you, you wear a mask to protect me. Wearing a mask and washing your hands are the easiest things to do to slow this virus. Avoid large gatherings and to all the young people out there, please do not attend parties. We had a large group of young people who had to quarantine recently because of a house party. If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem. We all need to be part of the solution!

Finally, if you've had Covid-19 and are healthy enough, please donate your Plasma. You can help as many as 5 patients with one donation. The antibodies in convalescent plasma helped save the life of a local man, so we know this works. Vitalant Donation Center in Billings, located at 1444 Grand Avenue, is one option for donating your plasma. They can be reached at 877-258-4825. The American Red Cross is another option. Information for Donating Convalescent Plasma to the Red Cross: Upon completion of your quarantine, please schedule your upcoming whole blood donation. Once the donation is complete, we will send the donation off to our labs and will perform the antibody test. Results will become available within one to two weeks of the donation. Should the results be positive, then we will direct you to complete the form to donate convalescent plasma. Please do not hesitate to contact us at 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767) and press the prompt for blood or email the Customer Care Group at CustomerCare@redcross.org for further assistance.

Youth Programs have resumed at the library with safety procedures in place to keep staff and students safe. After School Hangout for 7th and 8th grade is Mondays from 3:30 to 4:30. Tuesdays will be Story Time for ages 6 and under at 10:30. After School Hangout for grades 5 and 6 is Tuesdays at 3:30. Thursdays is LEGO Club for grades Kindergarten and up. Masks are required for anyone age 5 and over during all programs. Hand washing will be required upon entering the building. There will be social distancing where applicable. There will be no food or drinks during programs.

In addition to the hotspots we have available for checkout, we now have 2 iPads available for a 14 day checkout. The iPads were paid for by the Montana State Library using CARES funds and will be a permanent part of our collection.