IDAHO FALLS — Like most entertainment venues, COVID-19 pandemic caused the Museum of Idaho to close its door on March 16.

But that doesn’t mean museum workers have been sitting on their hands. Behind closed doors workers have been making a lot of changes to benefit improve safely of patrons, and to give them a better experience at the museum.

The museum reopens Saturday, and to protect visitors from the virus, they’ll come up with new ways to deliver education and entertainment to patrons. Even the scheduling of exhibitions on display has been changed.

“A lot has been able to get done,” museum spokesperson Jeff Carr told EastIdahoNews.com. “I think we’re all really proud of the work we’ve been able to do, not only trying to respond to this crisis but trying to make the best of it.”

A lot of these changes involve providing a safer, cleaner environment for museum visitors. New hand sanitizing stations, sneeze guards and signage have been installed throughout the museum to help fight the spread of COVID-19. A new online admissions portal will also help visitors to get museum tickets for specific time slots ahead of time and without the passing of physical items like cash or debit cards, a move that should provide extra protection to both patrons and museum staff.

The biggest change made to fight the novel coronavirus is the hiring of a full-time custodian, whose job will be to enact a new cleaning and disinfection protocol. Though the museum has previously contracted with janitorial companies for cleaning, new issues arising from the pandemic, along with other factors, meant the time was right to add a custodian to the staff.

“Since the museum is larger now than it used to be, it’s a bigger burden that demands a full-time position,” Carr said. “We were actually already thinking of hiring full-time custodian a few months down the road, but with COVID coming up, we got permission to do it earlier.”