Dear Getty Colleagues,

It has been five months since we closed the Getty Center and Getty Villa, and transitioned most of our staff to working from home. I write today with an update on additional measures Getty will be taking to improve the safety of our worksites, and on our overall status for the coming months.

Since late July, a total of 19 people who work on our sites report that they have tested positive for COVID-19. Sixteen of those worked at the Center and three at the Villa. Investigations have concluded that none of them contracted COVID at work, but instead were infected in the community or at home. Anyone in contact with those employees has been notified. However, the ongoing prevalence of COVID in the community, combined with concerns expressed by staff, have prompted us to rethink some of our plans and to implement three additional steps to protect our workers.

First, we will soon begin regular onsite COVID-19 testing of all staff who work on site. The testing could start as early as next week, and would be conducted on a weekly basis. The purpose of these tests is to identify workers who have been infected as quickly as possible, and to keep them at home until it safe for them to return. The details of the testing service are still being worked out. We will communicate to you further when testing is ready to begin.

The second step involves our timeline for reopening our facilities to the public. After considering input from county officials and listening to input from our employees, the COVID-19 Task Force has recommended that the Getty Center and Getty Villa not re-open to the public before January 2021. There is simply too much uncertainty regarding the success of efforts to control the coronavirus and regarding the county's timeframe for allowing museums to reopen. Delaying the reopening will allow staff more time to plan more effectively, and to adjust their priorities and schedules. This will allow us to better accommodate, over a longer period of time, the numbers of staff on our sites who are required for exhibition preparation and for visitor support.

The third step involves on-site staffing levels. Since the public reopening will be delayed further, program directors and department managers have been asked to review further staffing levels and schedules. The goal of this action will be to reduce the number of onsite staff to the minimum levels needed to ensure the safety and security of our facilities and collections, to process payroll, and to support minimum basic operations that cannot be performed remotely.

We are aware of the challenges of these past months for everyone, particularly for parents working from home while caring for children who are beginning the school year at home. We are all disappointed that we've needed to shutter our museums, library, archives and offices. We know that the lengthy time to reopening means more disruption to our exhibition schedules and to the use of Getty Library. Nonetheless, remaining closed is in the best interest of our workforce right now, maintaining a safety workplace, managing as best as we can the continuing uncertainties surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.

Please speak with your manager if you have questions about your status relative to working at one of our sites. All of our many measures to keep Getty workers on our sites safe remain in place. It is imperative that we all also do our part, each of us, to take responsibility for our actions when we are not at work to avoid exposure when at all possible.

Thank you, once again, for your perseverance and continued patience in moving Getty forward during this unprecedented time.

Steve Olsen
Chief Financial Officer & Chief Operating Officer