Heights Libraries offers free take-home COVID tests
Heights Libraries is providing free, at-home, COVID-19 rapid testing kits to any adult in the community who needs one.
The kits, the Abbott BinaxNOW Rapid COVID-19 Antigen At-Home Test, were provided by the Ohio Department of Health. Gov. Mike DeWine’s goal is to make these rapid-testing kits available and accessible in every Ohio county, and Ohio’s public libraries, including Heights Libraries, will play a critical role.
According to the Ohio Library Council, “Testing alone is not going to end the pandemic, but public libraries can help make the kits easily accessible to their communities, and fight COVID-19.”
To use the kit, a library customer must have access to the following:
• A Windows or Mac/Apple laptop with a webcam, or a desktop computer with an adjustable/moveable webcam, a microphone, and a speaker.
• An Apple phone/tablet, or an Android phone/tablet.
• An e-mail address.
• An Internet connection.
During library business hours, customers may request a test at a designated desk inside a library building (this will vary by branch), or over the phone for curbside pickup. For more information, and to request a test, contact Heights Libraries branches at:
- Coventry Branch: 216-321-3400
- Lee Road Branch: 216-932-3600
- Noble Branch: 216-291-5665
- University Heights Branch: 216-321-4700
Customers can request more than one test, and return for additional tests. They do not need to prove they need the tests.
Library staff cannot offer guidance or assistance with test taking, and customers may not take the test in library buildings; they must do so off-site.
Sheryl Banks
Sheryl Banks is the communications manager for the Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public Library System.