LOS ANGELES — It isn’t simply Disneyland, Knott’s Berry Farm and different theme parks urging California state well being officers to permit them to reopen with applicable coronavirus restrictions. .

Museum advocates are doing the identical, arguing they have been assigned to the “incorrect threat class” and do not pose the identical risk as film theaters and gymnasiums.

“From what I am seeing, California is likely one of the – if not, essentially the most – restrictive,” Laura Lott, president and CEO of American Alliance of Museums, advised USA TODAY.

About three-quarters of museums throughout the nation have reopened in some capability with security precautions comparable to timed tickets, temperature checks and obligatory masks, Lott mentioned. Some science museums with interactive displays are even growing apps to make sure a contactless expertise, she mentioned.

The Golden State, nonetheless, hasn’t backed off its prohibitive stance.

On the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, California Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered all museums to shut in mid-March.

Some had been allowed to reopen on June 12. Lower than a month later, nonetheless, on July 1, Newsom ordered them to shut once more for 3 weeks, citing an increase in COVID-19 circumstances.

The Catalina Island Museum in Avalon, California, expects to lose $500,000 in income in simply a few months because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Now, museums have been given the prospect to reopen with restrictions however solely in counties the place circumstances have declined.

In San Francisco, which has entered the state’s least restrictive tier, museums had been allowed to renew indoor operations at 25% capability in September.

However as circumstances surge nationally and statewide, Mayor London Breed on Friday paused reopening plans scheduled for Tuesday, which included increasing indoor capability for museums and different companies to 50%, ABC7 reported.

Some museum advocates are asking state officers to switch its coronavirus reopening tips – which locations museums in the identical threat class as dine-in eating places, film theaters and gymnasiums – to permit them to reopen at 25% indoor capability even within the state’s most contaminated counties.

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“Museums have been positioned within the incorrect threat class,” Celeste DeWald, government director of the California Affiliation of Museums, wrote in a July 15 letter to the California Division of Public Well being.

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In one other letter, the mayors of Los Angeles, San Diego, Riverside and Santa Ana requested Newsom and state well being officers to switch the state’s reopening tips for museums.

“Given the position that museums play in enriching the lives of tourists and serving to to mirror our shared hopes and values, we urge you to align the classification of museums within the state’s present tiered color-coded classification system with the restrictions positioned on retail and indoor malls,” the mayors wrote.

However public well being officers disagree. They imagine the coronavirus threat stage at museums is greater than purchasing malls as a result of they entice guests from throughout the area and past, whereas purchasing malls “are extra group primarily based.”

“Patrons spend longer durations of time in museums, on common, than in purchasing malls, which impacts the power to restrict period of publicity,” appearing state well being officer Dr. Erica Pan responded in a letter.

DeWald countered Pan’s argument: Half of California’s museums, she mentioned, are small with working budgets of lower than $500,000 and exist primarily to serve their native communities.

“We need to elevate consciousness that not all museums are main tourism locations in city environments,” DeWald advised USA TODAY. “In lots of circumstances, museums are doing actually vital work in smaller, rural or suburban communities, and even city communities.”

The Catalina Island Museum in Avalon, California.

Julie Perlin Lee, government director of the Catalina Island Museum in Avalon, detailed the financial devastation to museums in an op-ed for CalMatters, a nonprofit information outlet that covers California coverage and politics.

“I wished to deliver consciousness that there are many museums of various sizes working in many alternative components of the state and all of us have our completely different circumstances,” Lee advised USA TODAY, including that some museums do not have enormous budgets as some bigger museums do.

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In July, a survey by the American Alliance of Museums confirmed a 3rd of U.S. museum administrators mentioned there’s a “vital threat” of completely closing by subsequent fall.

Lee mentioned the Catalina Island Museum skilled an almost $250,000 loss in income in September. She predicted that quantity will develop to $500,000 in simply a few months.

“And it simply appeared to me proper from the get-go that this was an enormous missed alternative for the state to see museums as a companion and an ally in serving to to get out the phrase as to why we have to keep protected and the way we keep protected,” Lee mentioned.

Lott, of the American Affiliation of Museums, mentioned you will need to enable museums to reopen to function gathering areas for communities to heal from traumatic experiences, just like the coronavirus pandemic and racial inequities that led to a summer season of protests.

“Museums are important to their communities, they usually’ll be important to the nation’s restoration,” Lott mentioned, including that museums will help “folks perceive [and] put into context what we’re coping with now and encourage folks to essentially take into consideration a brighter future.”

This text initially appeared on USA TODAY: California museum advocates push for modified COVID-19 reopening guidelines