COVID-19 was new, and experts were struggling to understand it themselves. City and county stay-at-home orders had different rules for what types of businesses could operate. The public health department needed convenient testing locations in low-resource neighborhoods. The software and procedures developed for contact tracing changed regularly during the first weeks. Library staff are researchers by training and empathetic listeners by nature. Many of them were anxious to contribute to the community effort.

The Forsyth County Department of Public Health needed help from people who could work with the public, research information and step into a new role that required intense training. The public health and library directors identified branches for possible testing sites. Staff had to research the types of businesses that were allowed to operate and calm people who had been exposed to the virus. As one staff member said, "I had to make sure that the person on the other end of the phone felt like they mattered."

Taxpayers benefited from seeing libraries willing to repurpose their services in a crisis. Anxious residents had the benefit of dealing with the empathetic, thorough professionals. Our peer support specialist, who works with homeless people, was already a familiar face and had a rapport with homeless people who needed to quarantine. Two county departments that tend to be distant were able to work together and find a new way for their staffs to engage their missions.