Sacramento’s COVID-19 spike forces popular museums to close days after reopening
With Sacramento County demoted Tuesday to the strict purple tier in California’s coronavirus restriction system, capital city museums will once again have to suspend operations due to spiking COVID-19 numbers.
It’s a very quick turnaround for local institutions, some of which reopened weeks or even days ago following nearly seven months of closure.
The California Museum across from the Capitol reopened last week, Nov. 5 through this past Sunday, with a tight capacity limit allowing only 10 people inside at a time.
It closed back down this Thursday, but will continue to offer online exhibits and virtual field trips, the museum announced.
Downtown Sacramento’s popular Crocker Art Museum opened to the general public Oct. 16 with an exhibit featuring works from local legend Wayne Thiebaud. Crocker was open on a limited Thursday-through-Sunday schedule, with masks mandatory and the building capped at 25% of its normal capacity, as required by state and local guidelines. But following the Thiebaud opening, marking the icon’s 100th birthday, Crocker enjoyed just three more weekends on that schedule before Tuesday’s bad news.
Crocker will be open Thursday but will be closed again beginning Friday by order of state and county health officials.
Calling the news “incredibly disappointing,” Crocker officials called on the community to continue to support the arts and local businesses through what could be a long winter.
“This is incredibly disappointing news, but the health and safety of our community is paramount, and we are committed to doing our part to help overcome the pandemic. The Crocker was founded in 1885 and has weathered depressions, wars, and floods; it will weather the fallout of COVID-19, too, but it is estimated that more than 30 percent of museums in America won’t,” the Crocker statement read. “It is only through our shared commitment to preserving our community’s assets that we can ensure that Sacramento will remain a vibrant and thriving city in a post-COVID world.”
The California State Railroad Museum in the Old Sacramento Waterfront District reopened less than two weeks ago, including for train rides.
Like the California Museum and Crocker, the Railroad Museum mandated mask use, and it also canceled guided tours and closed enclosed train cars and other hands-on experiences, according to its website.
The three museums reopened after spending weeks modifying their operating logistics to comply with the red-tier guidelines after Sacramento County entered that tier in late September.
Tuesday’s update from the California Department of Public Health means the county must prohibit indoor operations at indoor museums as well as in restaurant dining rooms, gyms, places of worship and a few other businesses and activities. All of those will have to stay shuttered until Sacramento County can once again meet the red tier requirements for two consecutive weeks.
The new local health order doesn’t take takes effect until noon Friday. None of the three museums had acknowledged the impending closure order on their websites as of early Tuesday afternoon.
The second round of closures will deal another big blow to arts and education institutions that, in a typical year, would tend to draw more visitors in the winter months, due to colder weather and holiday-themed events and exhibits.
Some, including Crocker, filled the spring and summer void with virtual exhibits.
Obviously, that experience just isn’t the same for a museum.
“Opening the Crocker’s doors is an important signal for Sacramento,” Crocker director and CEO Lial A. Jones said in mid-October as the museum was preparing to open for the Thiebaud display. “This will be a time for Sacramentans to reconnect with their favorite artworks and Crocker friends.”
This story was originally published November 10, 2020 at 1:38 PM.
