COVID-19 Resources & Information for the Museum Field – aam-us.org

With the growing spread of COVID-19 (coronavirus) in the United States, museums must be well prepared for potential outbreaks as public spaces, employers for over 726,000 individuals, and institutions that hold significant public trust.

The American Alliance of Museums has compiled this guide to help museums prepare internally and externally for outbreaks in their communities and navigate the broader impact of COVID-19. AAM will continue to monitor this evolving situation and update this guidance as needed. These recommendations are not to be taken as legal advice or a definitive answer for any particular museum, but rather as a guide for preparedness for the field.

Follow the links below or click Read more under the section summaries for expanded guidance.

Museums are the most trusted source of information in America, rated higher than local papers, nonprofit researchers, the US government, or academic researchers. Museums can take advantage of this high level of public trust to provide education on COVID-19 and fight misinformation about its spread.

By empowering the public with the information they need to lower their risk of contracting or spreading disease, museums can help sustain healthy communities, maintain calm, and reduce the chances for an increase in discrimination or xenophobia often created by global diseases.

Museums should take steps now to revisit and update administrative policies and engage in clear and regular communication with staff in the process. Specific recommendations include:

Museums should track the CDC Travel Health Noticesand the State DepartmentTravel Advisoriesto determine what business travel should be canceled or postponed. The CDC currently recommends that travelers avoid all nonessential travel to China, South Korea, Italy, and Iran.

For employees who have traveled to affected areas, consider implementing self-quarantine requirements. According to the Society for Human Resource Management(SHRM), there are no laws that prohibit employers from requiring employees to work remotely from their worksite as a precaution.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provide extensive guidance for employers, including information relevant for museums as they develop strategies to keep staff safe. This information may help prevent workplace exposure to acute respiratory illnesses and provides planning considerations if there are more widespread community outbreaks of COVID-19.

Museums should consider how best to decrease the spread and lower the impact of COVID-19 in their workplace in the event of an outbreak in their geographic area. They should identify and communicate their objectives, which may include one or more of the following: (a) reducing transmission among staff, (b) protecting people who are at higher risk for adverse health complications, (c) maintaining business operations, and (d) minimizing adverse effects on visitors and other entities in their supply chains.

As with any contagious illness, good housekeeping is necessary to maintain the health of those in and around the museum during a coronavirus outbreak. But while the safety of people should come first, it is also important to maintain the safety of exhibition spaces and objects, both while on display and in storage. Finding the right balance between using the strongest disinfecting cleaning supplies and those that will not harm people or objects is key.

If a museum should need to close, whether due to staff illness or a significant outbreak in its geographical area, workers should be prepared to do the following things:

For museums that remain open to the public and host events, we recommend consulting the World Health Organizations guidelines for organizingmass gatherings in the context of COVID-19. This resource includes recommendations for planning, risk assessment, and other considerations relevant to museums.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also provide applicable guidance for community events, with sections on strategies to implement before,during, andaftera potential outbreak.

Individuals can prepare for outbreaks of COVID-19 by regularly monitoring information distributed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and World Health Organization (WHO). Common-sense preventative measures are highly recommended, including:

With the looming uncertainty and the publics growing fear around coronavirus, it is more important than ever for museums and cultural attractions to explore new digital and remote ways to reach audiences. In China, the government is encouraging museums to promote new technology and inheritance of our countrys cultural heritage, and Art Basel has launched new online viewing rooms in light of the cancellation of its major Hong Kong fair. Online collections, virtual reality, 360-degree video, and live streams have the potential to play critical roles in engaging the public, especially if closures or decreases in attendance occur as a result of this global health emergency.

Check the Alliance Calendar of Events to see all upcoming events, many related to COVID-19.

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COVID-19 Resources & Information for the Museum Field - aam-us.org