COVID-19 Update: Using ID badges for access to Smithsonian facilities

With seven of our facilities now open to the public, we are using timed entry passes to ensure a safe ​entrance process and to manage the number and flow of visitors. This approach helps promote social distancing, keeping our visitors and frontline staff safe. For your safety and that of on-site staff and visitors and to fully capture how many individuals are at each facility, we are making temporary changes to our “staff as visitors” policy. ​

Beginning now, a Smithsonian badge will no longer serve as an entry pass for employees or their guests. When planning to go to one of our reopened facilities as a visitor, you must obtain timed-entry passes online for yourself and any guests attending with you. The policy describing this new approach can be found here, and additional information can be found on the FAQ page of the COVID-19 Response Team website by searching for “timed entry.”

Timed entry passes are not required for the Renwick Gallery or for outdoor facilities including Smithsonian Gardens and the Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden and Plaza. Staff and their guests visiting the Renwick will be admitted based on capacity and will be required to acknowledge visitor guidelines.

As always, abide by posted signage, stay home if you are sick, wear face coverings, and maintain social distance. Like the public, “staff as visitors” must complete a health screening questionnaire ahead of any visit.

Please note, these procedures apply to “staff as visitors” and not to work-related visits to Smithsonian facilities. If you are coming into the workplace for work-related purposes (in any area, public or staff-only), you are required to follow the rules set forth by your unit and by the facility you are entering as described in that facility’s approved reopening plan. Reach out to the appropriate unit point of contact and your supervisor for instructions ​in a timely manner. Affiliated persons reporting for official duty should follow the same protocol. ​

For more information about visiting reopened facilities as a guest, please visit the Smithsonian’s passes page or email info@si.edu. Thank you for your support in keeping our community safe. We look forward to reinstating flexibilities related to staff visits to Smithsonian museums and the zoo in the future.

Stay well,

SI COVID-19 Response Team
si-coronavirusinfo@si.edu

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