MONTEREY – The Monterey Bay Aquarium has been navigating the currents of the COVID-19 pandemic since it reopened to the general public in the spring.
It is currently extending its online-only ticket sales through the end of the year, limiting its capacity, and maintaining a face-covering policy, among other maneuvers, to keep the top attraction on the Monterey Peninsula on a healthy and safe path. And though the majority of aquarium employees are fully vaccinated, it will now require those still not vaccinated for COVID-19 to do so.
The Monterey Bay Aquarium reports that 96% of its employees are fully vaccinated.
On Monday, the Food & Drug Administration granted full approval to the Pfizer vaccine for those 16 years of age and older.
“Now that the Pfizer vaccine has been granted full FDA approval, the aquarium will require staff that do not have a medical or religious exemption to get vaccinated,” said David Rosenberg, Monterey Bay Aquarium vice president of guest experience, in an email.
That will be in addition to other measures the Monterey aquarium has taken to keep its employees safe and healthy as well as the public.
“We have been staggering ticket release dates since we reopened to the general public in mid-May,” said Rosenberg. “When we released tickets for the remainder of the year, we maintained this policy as a necessary procedure due to the ongoing pandemic.”
People can visit the aquarium website to plan a visit while reserving a specific day and time for the experience. Tickets are not available at the main entrance and are only available to reserve online.
The aquarium had been closed since March 2020, as California went into lockdown due to the global pandemic, and remained shuttered until spring 2021, and is now catering to a steady stream of visitors, though at a controlled pace.
According to state and county guidance, the Monterey Bay Aquarium could be conducting operations with the public at 100% capacity, but it chooses to slowly increase capacity.
“At this time, we’re limiting available tickets to approximately 75% capacity which we think is appropriate given visitor demand,” said Rosenberg. “Likewise, as we enter the Fall season and children go back to school, we anticipate our visitor numbers to drop substantially.”
The facility has maintained its face-covering policy for all guests 3 years of age and older since reopening, regardless of vaccination status, but did away with the directional flow through the exhibits that had been put in place in many public spaces, including the aquarium, to help facilitate social distancing.
“We discontinued the one-way paths when the state’s tier system was eliminated (June 15),” said Rosenberg. “This allows visitors to roam the building freely and visit their favorite exhibits and animals as long and often as they like.”
Social distancing is still encouraged when possible at the aquarium, additional sanitizing stations have been installed throughout for greater visitor access to keeping hands clean. The aquarium continuously cleans throughout the day paying close attention to high-touch areas. It has increased fresh-air circulation and utilizes a positive air pressure system, offers contactless ordering at its cafe, reconfigured dining areas to maintain social distance between groups, and made volunteers available on its open-air ocean-view decks to limit crowding while highlighting ocean wildlife on Monterey Bay.
“Some high-touch areas of Splash Zone are still unavailable to guests, however, the majority of the aquarium is open to visitors allowing for a great experience,” said Rosenberg.
Scheduled feeding shows, auditorium programs, the restaurant, sleepovers, and underwater explorers are still on pause at the aquarium, though the cafe is open.
