Dear Everyone,

Thanks to everyone’s efforts to follow health guidance and practices such as wearing masks and physical distancing, we are managing things very well at the AGO. We have a safe building and our protocols are working.

We have followed the advice of public health professionals and provincial directives throughout the pandemic.

As we are hearing in the news, there is a rising number of COVID-19 infections, particularly due to the Omicron variant. As a result, the Province has announced that indoor areas of venues with a usual capacity of 1,000 or more will be subject to a capacity limit of 50%.  This directive includes museums like the AGO.

Our Visitor Experience team will continue to monitor ticket sales to ensure that we remain at 50% capacity throughout the museum.

We have worked very hard to keep our staff safe throughout this pandemic and will continue to do so. This week, we pressed pause on bringing back our Volunteers and have asked those Managers and others who can to do their work from home and resume working remotely.

What protections are in place for employees and visitors?

We will continue to be guided by the advice of public health officials. We have the following measures in place:

• All employees and visitors over the age of 12 are required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, unless they have a valid exemption. Visitors must show proof of vaccination and a corresponding ID on arrival.
• All employees and visitors over 2 years of age are required to wear a mask or face covering in a manner which covers their mouth, nose and chin, while visiting the AGO.
• We have increased our cleaning schedule and will be disinfecting high touch and high traffic areas multiple times a day. Our state of the art HVAC system has a 95% efficiency or MERV 15 rating, ensuring regular fresh air exchange and filtration. 
• This summer we installed UV sanitizing lighting in all fan systems throughout the building. UV sanitizing lighting is considered to be an effective tool to further aide to reduce the spread of pathogens and provide ongoing disinfection.

A reminder of what we need from you:

• Please wear your mask at all times when working with others.  We strongly recommend you wear a mask provided by the AGO.
• Please practice physical distancing and where possible stay at least 2 metres from one another.
• Please wash your hands frequently and properly.
• Please limit your movement around the building so that you minimize contact with others.

Sick policy:

• Please stay home if you are feeling unwell. As usual, notify your manager.
• If you think you have COVID-19 symptoms or have been in close contact with someone who has it, use this self-assessment tool to help determine how to seek further care. Please stay home if you are feeling unwell.
• If you, or someone you live with, are diagnosed with COVID-19, please contact your Manager and Kyle Nhan, Manager, Health & Safety, immediately. His email is [email protected]. We will keep this information confidential.

Leadership Team is paying close attention to the situation and we will keep everyone updated on the situation, should additional restrictions come into play. In the meantime, if you have any questions, please talk to your manager or LT members.

Thank you and stay safe,

Stephan