Message from the Secretary: Mask mandate for visitors will lift Friday, March 11
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we have seen surges in infection and illness, but we have also seen a remarkable national response in the availability of vaccines, testing and other tools and methods to protect ourselves. As the Omicron variant surge wanes and most Americans are protected from serious illness (either through vaccination or immunity through exposure), the Centers for Disease Control has shifted its guidance on moving forward and returning to a more normal way of living with COVID-19.
The CDC is no longer basing recommendations for health safety measures, such as the use of face masks, on the number of new COVID infections, but rather on the risk of serious illness requiring hospitalization–simply put, on our hospital systems’ ability to care for those who need treatment.
The new CDC COVID-19 Community Levels of infection for more than 70 percent of the country, including Washington, D.C., and New York City, are low. The CDC no longer recommends wearing a mask indoors in areas with low Community Levels.
We have taken the new CDC guidelines and recent changes in local mandates into careful consideration and have made the decision to lift our public mask requirement. Starting, this Friday, March 11, visitors will no longer be required to wear a mask while visiting Smithsonian museums or the Zoo.
We have the tools and understand how to prevent the spread of COVID-19. We also know our personal risks and the responsibility we have to keep ourselves and those around us healthy. While Smithsonian’s visitors will be able to make the choice to wear a mask or not based on their own personal risk levels, the pandemic is not over. The health and safety of our staff and visitors remain our top priority. For the time being, we will continue to require all on-site staff to wear a mask and will continue to implement existing safety measures, including daily health screenings, contact tracing procedures and any necessary quarantines, and as always, staying home if you are sick.
As we transition into a new era when COVID-19 continues to impact our world, but poses lower risks for most people, we will adjust our operational response accordingly. Our COVID response team is working on a new operational plan we are calling the Way Forward Plan, which will outline benchmarks for adjusting our operations in response to changes in the risk of serious illness from COVID and its variants. I look forward to sharing those plans with you all in the coming weeks.
Sincerely,
Lonnie Bunch
Secretary
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Posted: 7 March 2022
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