GROESBECK, Ohio — Back in March, before the COVID-19 vaccines became available to the general public, Ned Heeger-Brehm was providing an in-demand product for free from the drive-thru window of his branch of the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County: at-home COVID tests.

"We were giving out quite a bit of it," he said. "Then it kind of slowed down."

But now, with the virus' new delta variant surging through the region, Heeger-Brehm said demand has begun to spike again. And with thousands of children — many of whom are not eligible for vaccination — heading back to their classrooms, Heeger-Brehm said he's almost out of stock.

"There's been a recent uptick in the last couple of weeks, and it just went crazy this past week," he said, recounting that hundreds of the at-home test kits have flown off his supply shelf.

"I've had some people say that it's like kids going back to school; they figure they're going to have to get tests for when there's an exposure in school," he said. "I think it is a lot of people going back to work and people visiting people in nursing homes, things like that."

Erlene Robinson was in line Wednesday, waiting to stock up on some at-home tests. She said they're for her grandchildren.

"The test is just ... precautionary to make sure that they're not going to be, you know, affecting other people," she said.

The at-home tests are generally easy to use, according to nurse practitioner and director of health services at Northern Kentucky University Rose Tempel.

"You know, you just go up into the nose (with the swab) about an inch, so it's not painful," she said.

But are they effective in detecting the virus?

Tempel said they're "pretty effective," but mostly when someone is experiencing COVID-like symptoms.

"The effectiveness of people with symptoms is about 95% of picking up a true positive case of COVID," she said, but noted that it's probably not worth administering unless symptoms are present.

But she added that the delta variant has a wider range of symptoms than earlier strains, some that are also common among other illnesses.

"So now, headache, nasal congestion and sore throat seem to be more common of what we see presenting with the delta variant, versus initially (when) it was fever, cough, things like that," she said.

An additional note about at-home tests: Some require the self-swab along with the ability to teleconference with a practitioner over a computer, to guide you through the rest of the testing process.

In addition to the Groesbeck branch, these other branches are offering drive-thru access to at-home tests:

• Anderson
• Covedale
• Delhi Township
• Downtown
• Reading
• Symmes Township

Due to increased demand, library officials recommend calling your local branch first to ensure they still have some in stock.

Anyone not comfortable administering a self-test can also consult their local pharmacy.

It's been 15 long months since millions of workers left their offices and set up makeshift desks at home.

But as COVID-19 cases decline and more Americans get vaccinated, companies are beginning to establish protocols about how, and whether, office life will resume.

For Wall Street banks, the growing consensus is that everyone ought to be back at their desks by Labor Day — though Citibank said it's embracing more of a hybrid model. Meanwhile, tech companies are taking a far more flexible approach.

As for workers themselves, more than half of those surveyed in a recent Pew Research Center survey said that, given the choice, they would want to keep working from home even after the pandemic subsides.

Here's how some of the biggest names in tech and finance are handling the return to office life.

Apple

Apple expects employees to return to their offices three days a week come September, CEO Tim Cook wrote in an email to employees earlier this month, according to The Verge.

"For all that we've been able to achieve while many of us have been separated, the truth is that there has been something essential missing from this past year: each other," Cook said in the email. "Video conference calling has narrowed the distance between us, to be sure, but there are things it simply cannot replicate."

Employees are expected to be in the office Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, but those with roles that allow for remote work will have the option to work from home Wednesdays and Fridays. The company is also offering up to two weeks of remote work annually and encouraging, but not requiring, vaccination.

Facebook

Facebook announced earlier this month that employees can apply for remote work if their role allows. Any worker who wants to return to the office may do so on a flexible basis but is encouraged to spend at least half of their time in the office. Employees will also be granted 20 days each year to work from a remote location.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told employees in a memo that he plans to continue working remotely for at least half of the next year, a company spokesperson confirmed to CNN Business.

Google

Until September, Google workers around the world can continue to work remotely before deciding between coming back to their office, working out of a different Google office or applying for full-time remote work.

"The future of work is flexibility," CEO Sundar Pichai wrote in a May memo to employees.

Pichai said he expects about 60% of employees to return to their pre-pandemic offices while 20% move to a different office and 20% work from home.

Twitter

Twitter has yet to set an exact start date for welcoming employees back to the office, but it plans to start with a 20% capacity limit.

Early in the pandemic, the company said it plans to let some of its workforce continue working remotely "forever" if they choose.

"If our employees are in a role and situation that enables them to work from home and they want to continue to do so forever, we will make that happen," said Twitter's vice president of people, Jennifer Christie, in a statement to CNN Business. "If not, our offices will be their warm and welcoming selves, with some additional precautions, when we feel it's safe to return."

The company has stressed that it wants employees to have the choice to return to the office, but it anticipates that most workers will opt for a hybrid model, spending some time in the office and some time at home.

Uber

Uber will shift to a hybrid model in September, according to an April blog post from Nikki Krishnamurthy, the company's chief people officer.

Employees at the ride-hailing company are expected in the office three days a week, but they will have the option to work remotely the other two days.

"We feel that this combination of in-person and remote work will give people the freedom to do their best work while staying connected to their colleagues," Krishnamurthy said in the blog post.

Bank of America

Bank of America is encouraging, and expecting, all vaccinated employees to return to the office after Labor Day, CEO Brian Moynihan said this week.

"Our view is all the vaccinated teammates will be back," Moynihan said in a Bloomberg Television interview this week. "We'll be able to operate fairly normally and will then start to make provisions for the other teammates as we move through the fall."

The bank is not mandating employees to report their vaccination status, but it is expecting them to input their status in the company portal.

Citibank

Citi said in March that it recognized how people have benefited from aspects of working remotely, and that it would embrace some flexibility in the return-to-office process.

The bank said it expects up to 30% of U.S. staff to return to the office in July. The majority of Citi workers globally will be designated as "hybrid," working in the office at least three days a week and from home up to two days per week.

Goldman Sachs

Goldman Sachs welcomed employees back to the office on Monday. The company is expecting 5,400 newly hired interns, analysts and associates in the office in addition to its returning employees.

"We are focused on progressing on our journey to gradually bring our people back together again, where it is safe to do so, and are now in a position to activate the next steps in our return to office strategy," the bank's leadership wrote in a May staff memo.

Leading up to the return to in-person work, Goldman Sachs also mandated that its employees report their vaccination status. While vaccination is not required, the company is encouraging all staff to get vaccinated if possible.

JPMorgan Chase

Last month, JPMorgan opened all of its U.S. offices to employees with a 50% occupancy cap. Executives at the bank informed staff that it expects all U.S.-based employees back in the office by early July on a consistent rotational schedule, subject to the same 50% cap.

"We firmly believe that working together in person is important for our culture, clients, businesses and teams," JPMorgan executives said.

Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman took a hard line earlier this week, saying he expects the bank's New York employees back in the office by Labor Day.

"If you can go to a restaurant in New York City, you can come into the office. And we want you in the office," Gorman said at an investing conference.

The company has not mandated vaccination, but Gorman noted that "well over 90%" of employees had already received their COVID-19 vaccination. That number is expected to hit 98% to 99%, according to Gorman.

The bank will continue to consider returning to the office on a case-by-case basis, Gorman said, recognizing that some employees may not be able to be vaccinated, or may be in a different situation if their office is outside of New York.

The CDC's announcement that fully-vaccinated individuals don't need to wear a mask in most situations was a big step toward a return to normalcy, but it might have complicated employers' return-to-work plans.

"The news makes it so much more complex for companies to navigate their re-openings now," said Brian Kropp, chief of research for the Gartner Human Resources Practice.

Generally speaking, employers can mandate workers get vaccinated and require proof of inoculation before they return to the office. But federal protections allow for some exceptions. Workers with underlying medical conditions might be exempt under the Americans with Disabilities Act. And Title VII of the Civil Rights Act could allow employees with "sincerely held" religious beliefs against a vaccine to seek accommodations.

The new guidelines don't prevent employers from requiring workers to wear masks in the office. And some states and cities still have more strict mask mandates in place.

"If you are a private employer and you want to have safety restrictions that are greater than that required by the law, generally speaking you can do that," said Erin McLaughlin, labor and employment attorney at Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney.

She added that continuing a mask mandate might be easier. "If you are going to continue to require the mask, you don't really have to deal with 'has the person been vaccinated or not?' and regulating who wears their mask."

McLaughlin said that companies can have separate masking policies when it comes to vaccinated and unvaccinated workers.

"If you have a jurisdiction that has aligned with the CDC on the most recent guidance, you can have a policy that does not require masks for employees who have been completely vaccinated but still require them for those that haven't," said McLaughlin.

Policies about returning to the workplace, like vaccinations and mask-wearing, need to be clear, said McLaughlin.

"Employers need to clearly communicate to their employees what the expectations are, apply them consistently and have frequent, likely changing communication with employees based upon the current state of the regulations and the jurisdictions in which you are operating," she said.

When it comes to proof of vaccination, employers can't require any additional medical information.

Adam Pankratz, an employment attorney and shareholder at Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, said there were three main tactics companies can take when asking for inoculation proof: request a copy of a vaccination card, have employees attest to receiving the shots, or have an honor system.

"This might mostly be smaller workforces where everybody knows each others' names and family names," he said of the honor system.

The new CDC guidance could also push more companies to mandate vaccines.

"I think the trend is going to be more employers mandating now because of what happened yesterday," said Mark Neuberger, an attorney at Foley & Lardner. "Nobody wants to wear a mask, more and more employers want to get their people back into the workplace so the easier way is to say: 'you can come back and you don't have to wear masks, just show me that you are vaccinated.'"