Museums, cultural institutions can reopen Aug. 24

Museums and cultural institutions can open up again to visitors starting Aug. 24, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced on Friday. The cultural institutions had been barred from the state’s reopening plans out of fears of the coronavirus’s transmission indoors, The New York Times reports.

To reopen, museums must abide by safety regulations such as keeping building occupancy at 25%, establishing a timed ticketing system to keep track of occupancy, and requiring masks. Some institutions are also rearranging space to make it easier for visitors and staff to maintain distance from one another and take temperature checks at the door. 

The announcement offers a sign of hope to museums, which have been financially strained after five months of closures. Many had already been preparing for tentative reopening dates in anticipation of the state giving the go-ahead. The Museum of Jewish Heritage—a Living Memorial to the Holocaust and the American Museum of Natural History, for example, have both been intending to return on Sept. 9.

Reopening alone won’t guarantee financial stability for cultural institutions, however, as potential visitors may be dissuaded from visiting out of an abundance of caution. But it does offer an opportunity to raise revenue that has been virtually impossible for institutions that cannot easily pivot to online work.