As Coronavirus cases continue to rise in California, various retail businesses are up and running. But, that is not the case for museums.

LA Times Editorial Writer Carla Hall makes a case for why museums should be allowed to reopen.

What You Need To Know

  • Even in counties with the widespread transmission, California has allowed indoor venues such as shopping malls, retail stores, hair salons, and tattoo parlors to reopen with restrictions

  • Museums, however, have been told to keep their indoor galleries closed, even though they have offered to put in place an elaborate array of safety measures

  • Acting State health officer, Dr. Erica Pan says shopping malls generally attract people from the local community while museums attract visitors from across the region and beyond, raising the risk of COVID-19 transmission

  • Museums across California have come up with COVID-era restrictions and are urging the state to accept them

“People who run museums argue that going to a museum is no riskier than going to a shopping mall. But, state health officials disagree. They believe shopping malls attract patrons from the local community, while museums attract visitors far and wide. That raises the risk of COVID transmission, according to the acting state health officer, Dr. Erica Pan,” said Hall.

Dr. Pan also says that visitors spend a lot of time in museums than in shopping malls.

“In a mall, she told me there are not things on the wall to stop and talk about. But there’s no way to know that shoppers won’t stop to appraise an item of clothing for any less time than museum visitors will pause to appraise a painting. According to a 2017 study on how long visitors to the Art Institute of Chicago viewed artwork, the median time was 28 seconds,” added Hall.

Museums across California have come up with COVID-era restrictions and are urging the state to accept them.

“Museums would admit people at staggered times, limit the museum to 25% capacity. And keep people flowing through their spaces in a timely fashion. Michael Govan, the director of LACMA, says if his huge museum reopened at 25% percent capacity, you would feel very alone,” said Hall.

Museum visitors are already good at following rules from not touching paintings and not leaning on sculptures. So, compliance with new regulations is likely to be high.

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“Ironically, since retail sites are open everywhere, art galleries can open, while museums cannot. Dr. Pan, the state health officer, says the difference is that art galleries are small. But, what museums are saying is that they can make themselves small. They can hold down the number of people who enter their exhibits,” said Hall.

State officials may be unnecessarily worried about California museums drawing from outside the county.

“The directors of LACMA, the Autry Museum of the American West, and the Natural History Museum in Exposition Park all say their facilities draw two-thirds or more of their visitors from the County of Los Angeles. So, if museums can open as safely as shopping malls, state officials should let them do so,” said Hall.