As a response to the extended closures of indoor museums due to COVID-19, our Executive Director, Lenny Leszczynski, penned and submitted an article to the Times of San Diego that was published on Aug. 18, 2020.
Let San Diego's Treasured Museums Open - Or Lose Them
COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on museums across the nation, and the San Diego Automotive Museum is no exception.
On March 19, our museum was forced to close its doors to the public. On June 19 the museum was able to re-open its doors, but quickly had to close them July 7 due to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s inclusion of indoor museums in his mandatory order of closures when San Diego was placed on the state’s “watch list” due to a rise in COVID-19 cases.
To include museums in the same category as bars, restaurants, wineries, movie theaters and cardrooms is wrong. The common denominator for all these businesses, other than museums, is that patrons linger and remove face masks to eat or drink. Congregating, socializing, eating, and drinking is their essential purpose, and social distancing is extremely challenging.
