A Tate Modern Employee Has the Coronavirus, but the Museum Says It Has Undertaken a Deep Clean and Will Remain Open

The Tate Modern museum in London has confirmed that a staff
member tested positive for the novel coronavirus earlier this
week.

The employee, who does not work in any front-of-office capacity,
is self-isolating and experiencing mild symptoms. They are
said to have contracted the illness from a personal friend who got
it while traveling abroad.

The news, which was reported first by the Art Newspaper, comes on the heels of
museum closures around the world, including in New York, where
employees at the Metropolitan Museum of Art began exhibiting flu-like symptoms, and
in Boston, where the four biggest museums have closed.

Officials at Tate Modern, however, say the museum will remain
open because the sick employee had no direct contact with the
public, and had only been at work for one day (Monday, March 2)
while they were infectious.

“All areas with which they have come into contact have been deep
cleaned,” a spokesperson told the Art Newspaper. “The
galleries remain open and work areas continue to be
operational.”

In addition, the museum is contacting the “very small number of
people” whom the staffer may have come into contact with, and is
encouraging those individuals to follow public health
guidelines.

The museum says it has also increased the “level of cleaning in
the galleries and office spaces as a pre-emptive measure.”

The museum did not respond to Artnet News’s requests for
comment.

The post A Tate Modern Employee Has the Coronavirus, but the
Museum Says It Has Undertaken a Deep Clean and Will Remain Open
appeared first on artnet News.