From August 24, museums, aquariums and other cultural institutions in New York will be able to reopen when a steady drop in coronavirus cases are recorded in that tourist region. Despite no longer being the epicenter of the pandemic in the United States, nearly 430,000 people were infected and some 33,000 patients died. New York’s Covid-19 contagion rate stands at 0.84%, and ranks it as the fourth state with the most cases, behind California, Flroida and Texas. Faced with this improvement in numbers, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that “low-risk cultural activities, museums, aquariums and other cultural arts will be able to reopen in New York on August 24.”
Museums and other cultural events will be able to operate at 25% of their capacity and tickets must include the entrance time of each visitor, who must wear a beard at all times. Bowling spots will also be able to receive customers again from next Monday, albeit at 50% of their maximum occupancy and must have established a cleaning and disinfection protocol, especially for the elements shared by the public. Cuomo announced that in the coming days he will publish the rules that gyms must follow to return to the activity. The museums were part of New York’s fourth reopening phase, which took effect on July 20, but shortly before it reached that date the governor stated that indoor leisure activities were still too dangerous.
The Metropolitan Museum of New York (Met) announced in late June that it planned to open its doors on August 29 after five and a half months of closure if authorities allowed it, while in early August the Natural History Museum in New York claimed it would do so on September 9. The “Tribute in Light” is the annual commemoration of blue beams of light that rises on the Manhattan skyline where the Twin Towers were in memory of the victims of the 9/11 attacks. A day after the cancellation of this event was announced, some 25,000 people signed petitions for the tribute. The event was cancelled for fear of coronavirus contagion for those who produce it, as it “requires a huge number of people for the organization and therefore the risks are enormous,” the 9/11 Memorial and Museum reported. anniversary of the attacks in which nearly 3,000 people died, an initiative will take place where which buildings of the Big Apple will illuminate their facades in blue “to honor the victims”.
