Starting Saturday all Smithsonian Museums and the Zoo will be closing indefinitely.
The Smithsonian Institution announced on Mar 12 it would be temporarily closing all of its Washington DC and New York area museums starting on Mar 14 “as a public health precaution due to COVID-19.” That also includes the National Zoo which will be closing to the public but where animal care will continue as usual.
The Smithsonian communicated it would not be announcing a re-opening date as of yet “due to the rapidly changing nature of the situation” and that it would be providing week-to-week updates on their social media channels and websites.
This announcement came shortly after the Institution decided to remain open but to cancel all gatherings and events until May 3. These include Museum Day set to take place in April and all Cherry Blossom Festival related events.
The Smithsonian also encourages the public to access their online resources on www.si.edu and its other museum websites where they’ll be able to access more information on their virtual exhibitions, online collections and educational resources.