Re-Opening Procedures

6/11/2021 update: General admission hours will resume on Saturdays (10am-4pm) and Sundays (12pm-4pm). Tours by appointment will continue on Thursdays and Fridays.

7/9/2020 update: In the event that Hamilton county enters Level 4 (purple) in the Ohio Public Health Advisory System, the site will close to the public and re-open at the direction of the Ohio History Connection.

7/2/2020 update: Due to current high levels of virus spread in Hamilton County, masks will be required for all visitors. If you have a medical exemption request, please indicate this on your tour request form. 
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Approved 6/9/2020 by the Ohio History Connection.

Operating Hours: We plan to take appointments for mainly Thursday-Saturday 10-4 and Sunday 12-4 and at one hour intervals.  However, if we have people who need to schedule on other days, we will look to accommodate (which is what we do even with the regular hours). 
At Risk Hours:  As stated in Standards for Visitors #13, we didn’t limit at-risk visitors to a particular time.  Since they would be touring with only their family group, any time could be considered for at-risk visitors. 
 
Standards for Employees/Volunteers:

1. Establish a re-open scenario task force to plan and manage reopening protocols.  Committee consists of both staff members, two board members, and at least two volunteers. 
2. Continue to allow employees to work from home unless their presence is needed for visitor tours. 
3. Require all employees and volunteers to complete a temperature check and/or basic health assessment either at home or when entering facility.  They should meet the same requirements of all general offices in the state. 
4. Maintain good hygiene practices.  This includes frequent hand washing, sanitizing of surfaces, and maintaining social distancing. 
5. Require all employees and volunteers to wear face coverings while visitors are present or when conducting a physical conference with others. 
6. Require sick employees and volunteers to stay home until they are free of symptoms without medication for 72 hours. 
7. Frequently clean/disinfect all commonly touched surfaces in employee work areas (office, kitchen, library).  Keep a log report of cleaning to provide documentation. 
8. Frequently clean/disinfect all commonly touched surfaces in all visitor areas.  Keep a log report of cleaning to provide documentation. 
9. Install a plexiglass screen at the cash register counter to minimize contact when visitors are checking in. 

 
Standards for Visitors:

1. Encourage social distancing within the facility. 
2. Require visitors to complete a temperature check and/or basic health assessment upon entering the House and ask health related question (do you have a cough, tightening in the chest, been with anyone who has been sick?). 
3. Display appropriate signage about updated COVID policies both at the entrance and within the House.  This will include our own certificate detailing our deep cleaning and our regular cleaning protocol as well as our mask guidelines. 
4. During initial opening phase, schedule visitor tours by appointment.  This information will be communicated on our website, on signs at our stone wall fence, and through media/advertising. 
5. Tours will be scheduled with half hour intervals if two docents are available.  They will be scheduled with one-hour intervals if one docent is available.  
6. Strongly encourage guests wear masks (provide disposable masks to guests if necessary).   7/2/2020 update: Due to current high levels of virus spread in Hamilton County, masks will be required for all visitors. Those with medical exemption requests will be asked to indicate this on their tour request form.
   
7. Hand sanitizer stations and tissues will be available to visitors in several exhibit rooms as well as the Bookstore/Check-in Area. 
8. Limit capacity to two family groups at a time within the House.  Each family group, will be no larger than nine. Groups will be on a staggered tour schedule so that they do not interact and will remain more than 6 feet apart.  Although capacity is believed to be 40 in the house, it is not anticipated to have more than 25 in the house due to staggered scheduling. 
9. Create a low touch guest experience.  Encourage the use of contactless payment and/or credit card reader.  (Cash will be accepted.  However, staff should sanitize after touching cash) 
10. Designate staff or volunteer to fill out the log sheet for visitors, to minimize contamination.  This may be facilitated by tour scheduling process and early collection of data. 
11. We will re-design interactive elements to allow for only no touch experiences and consumable, take-away products for the visitors.  
12. The Kids Activity room will remain closed unless parents request and take responsibility for interactions within the room.  This information will be communicated during tour scheduling procedure.  A consumable activity book and individually packaged crayons will be available for our young guests.  
13. In lieu of specific hours for high risk populations, the tours by appointment structure will alleviate contact between guests and other groups. 
14. Aggressively clean/disinfect all high touch areas frequently, including bookstore.  It is fine to have visitors see that you are doing so.  Keep a log report of cleaning to provide documentation. 
15. Have display models of books and merchandise in the bookstore.  Ask visitors not to touch items unless they are purchasing.  Staff and volunteers will retrieve items from storage if the visitor wants to purchase. 
16. Promote our “Retail to Go” options for visitors and others through website and social media.  Bookstore items and curated packages may be ordered via email or phone, then staff will call to get payment information and schedule curbside (parking lot) pick-up. 
17. All discussion groups, lectures, and events will be moved to an online format or postponed until groups of 25 are acceptable, according to state guidelines. 

Communications Measures

1. We will utilize a Google form intake questionnaire to ensure that we capture all pertinent information when scheduling tours.  This can be done on or off site.  
2. In tour confirmation, request that visitors remain outside the building until their tour time unless invited in early (to maintain social distance standards) 
3. Communicate “what to expect” information in the tour confirmation.

Regular Cleaning Protocol

1. Post signs reminding visitors to wash hands, use sanitizer, and social distance while in the museum 
2. Hand sanitizer stations should be present in the bookstore and throughout the museum, tissues should be available to visitors in the bookstore and bathroom hallway 
3. Cleaning times and notes should be documented in “Cleaning log” so that we keep a record of accountability 
4. Enhanced cleaning and disinfecting procedures on the high-touch areas of the museum, includes: 

Door knobs and handles
Light switches, alarm keypad, and temp controls
Registration/information desks/computer area
Bookstore Area
Stair rails – inside and outside
Bathroom surfaces
Kids Area as necessary
 
If a Covid-19 Infection is identified

1. Immediately report employee or customer infections to the local health district. 
2. Work with local health department to identify potentially exposed individuals to help facilitate appropriate communication/contact tracing. 
3. Shutdown House for deep sanitation if possible.  
4. Professionally clean and sanitize site/location. 
5. Reopen in consultation with the local health department.

 

Support for re-opening has been provided by Ohio Humanities, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the federal CARES Act of 2020.