UPDATED MARCH 22: Latest news on tightened crowd restrictions on covid.is
Stricter restrictions on gatherings – the limit is set at 20 people. These rules will go into effect at midnight on Monday, March 23. THIS MEANS THAT MUSEUMS HAVE TO CLOSED.
"The Minister of Health has decided, in accordance with the Chief Epidemiologist's proposal, to restrict gatherings even further than before due to the rapid spread of Covid-19 in society. Events where people gather will be limited to 20 people instead of 100 previously. In addition, at all gatherings, it must be ensured that the proximity between people is more than two meters."
The Mail from March 20
We are now facing challenges that we have never had to face before, both here in Iceland and around the world. It is important that we stand together and support each other.
Please note that you can always contact the Museum Council's Executive Director with any questions that are on your mind. You can also share with the rest of us your solutions to these challenging tasks.
- CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS CHANGE PRINCIPLES IN TIMES LIKE THESE – Culture brings us together, now it is important to be a spiritual support for society
- As things stand, some museums can remain open, despite the ban on gatherings that has been imposed. It is possible to remain open, as long as the museums can ensure a reasonable distance between people and limit the number of people at any one time (currently 100 people). Please note that this depends a lot on the housing options, the number of staff and the location of each museum. Let's be more cautious than the other way around. There is no requirement to stay open, but rather this is a decision made by each museum in dialogue with its owners and the community.
- Most events should be postponed, unless it is safe to keep them within the limits set by the government at any given time.
- Let's use diverse media to showcase the collection – let's use digital media creatively, let's make good use of Sarp, for example.
- Museums can use the time to conduct internal professional work and can even take the opportunity to communicate to the public digitally what diverse and fun projects are going on every day at museums.
- Remote work is now encouraged, those museums that can do so are encouraged to do so (some museums do not have the option to do so)
- Museum Fund. It is clear that the current situation in society is having a huge impact on museum operations due to COVID-19, and many museums are having to take measures, including postponing projects that are in progress or extending their work hours. If it comes to that, your museum needs to postpone or extend the working hours of projects that received grants from the Museum Fund in 2019 and also those that will be funded in 2020 due to the circumstances of COVID-19, then those projects will be given a deadline. The museum board only needs to be informed of the deadline so that the flood of paperwork can be kept under control. An email to that effect will suffice in this case. Regarding the change in the use of grants, there will be cases where museums will not have the opportunity to work on projects as they were initially planned. Each case will be assessed individually, hopefully an acceptable solution will be found for all of those cases.
- Let's work together, share information about how museums are solving the problems that arise in these circumstances, many museum directors have shared their museums' response plans, please take advantage of something from other museums and reach out to human resources at other museums with advice.
- Let's be considerate, many people are anxious in these circumstances.
- But remember to follow the instructions of the government and health authorities in all respects. Things can change at very short notice, the best information at any time can be found on the website https://www.covid.is/
- Soaps and alcohol!
With love to you!