Staff members at both Getty Center and Getty Villa test positive for the virus
By Sam Catanzaro
While both remain closed to the public, a number of staff members at the Getty Villa and Getty Center have tested positive for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).
According to the Los Angeles Department of Public Health, there have been six confirmed of COVID-19 among Getty Center staff. In addition, three staff members tested positive at the Getty Villa in Pacific Palisades.
“We filed a report to the County, which is required of any workplace that has three cases reported among workers in a 14-day period. Our protocol is to do an immediate investigation and our own contact tracing. None of the individuals contracted COVID-19 in the workplace, and none had come to work with fevers,” said Lisa Lapin, Vice President of Communications at Getty. “For privacy reasons, I cannot specify in what area these individuals work, but they do not work together.”
According to Lapin, while the Getty Center and Getty Villa sites are closed to visitors and most staff have been working from home, it has had some employees on-site throughout this closure period to protect and maintain the collections and grounds.
“Any ill worker remains home and quarantines. We practice social distancing and workers wear masks on our sites. If there is an individual who tests positive, we immediately inform any employee who may have possibly been within a distance,” Lapin said, noting in addition the presence of temperature monitoring stations on-site and protocols requiring employees remain physically distanced from each other.
Editor’s note: a previous version of this story stated that Public Health reported three non-confirmed symptomatic cases of COVID-19 among Getty Center staff. That was an error – there were no “non-confirmed symptomatic cases.
