coronavirus

Metropolitan Museum of Art to Close Indefinitely Due to the Coronavirus

Photo: Seth Wenig/AP/Shutterstock

Joining a growing list of concerts, festivals, productions, and sports events, the Metropolitan Museum of Art has announced it will be closing its doors Friday to aid in stopping the spread of coronavirus. This includes the Fifth Avenue flagship as well as the the Met Breuer and the Met Cloisters, the New York Times reports. The closure announcement does not come with a planned reopening date, and the spaces will be cleaned in the meantime. Two museum staffers have shown symptoms of COVID-19; one is awaiting a test. This marks the first major New York City museum to close due to the growing pandemic. The museum expects to have further updates next week, according to the Times.

“While we don’t have any confirmed cases connected to the museum, we believe that we must do all that we can to ensure a safe and healthy environment for our community, which at this time calls for us to minimize gatherings while maintaining the cleanest environment possible,” Daniel Weiss, the Met’s president and chief executive, said in a statement provided to the Times. The Met was set to celebrate its 150th anniversary later this month.

Earlier this week, a Broadway usher who had worked at both the Booth Theatre and the Brooks Atkinson Theater (Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf and Six, respectively) tested positive for the virus. Shows at those theaters are still operational.

Met Museum to Close Indefinitely Due to Coronavirus