Plan a Visit

• Unavailable areas: The Aquatic Presentation and several high-touch play areas will not be available. Visit our frequently asked questions for more details.
• Touch experiences: Stingray Touch has closed for the season. Sea Star Touch and Sturgeon Touch are view-only to allow for social distancing.
• Exhibit experiences: We've adjusted our fish IDs to automatically scroll so they don't need to be touched in order to convey information.
• Water fountains: For your safety, water fountains will not be available. Guests may purchase water or use a bottle refilling station.
• Cash or credit? If you are looking to make a purchase, bring a credit card if possible. Cash sales will be limited to reduce close contact between staff and guests.
• Accessibility changes: Wheelchairs, assistive listening devices, and noise-cancelling headphones will be available on a first come, first-served basis and will be sanitized between each use. Details on Shedd’s accessibility offerings.
• Restaurants: All restaurants are temporarily closed. Effective Friday, October 30, 2020, there will be no indoor dining allowed in the city of Chicago. 
• Re-entry: Unfortunately, due to the new flow of the aquarium, we won't be able to let people back into Shedd once they exit the building.

Before your visit

• We established employee wellness checks before shifts and guest guidance for entering. 
  
• We limited the hourly capacity in the building to provide plenty of space for guests to comfortably explore. 
• We implemented timed entry to keep an even flow of guests throughout the day. 
• Guests will now choose an available entry time when purchasing tickets online. Those who need to purchase their tickets on-site will be able to do so at our ticket counter separated by plexiglass shields, while waiting in a short line where guests will be spaced 6 feet apart. 
• We have installed physical barriers for interactions like ticket purchasing, where social distancing might not be possible.

Enhanced daytime cleanings and nightly deep cleanings

• All touch points and hard surfaces throughout the aquarium are disinfected, not just the frequently touched surfaces. 
• When you walk around the aquarium, you will see our “Sanitation Squad” at work. This is a newly implemented group that wipes down areas where they are stationed and joins forces to focus on railings, reading rails, elevator interiors, seating areas, exhibits, counter tops, interactive screens, etc.
• A specialized custodial team wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) cleans the aquarium overnight. The team uses electrostatic sprayers, misters and vacuum equipment with high-efficiency particular air (HEPA) filters to make sure hard to reach surfaces are not missed. Not all of this equipment will visible to guests as it’s used after-hours.
• The disinfectants we use are on the EPA N list of approved disinfectants for use against SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 and are in widespread use by the healthcare industry.

Building ventilation and air flow

• Shedd Aquarium is operating under ASHRAE COVID-19 Building Readiness/Reopening Guidance dated May 7, 2020.
• All of our air handlers are running 24-hours, 7-days a week.
• Each day 2 hours before we open and 2 hours after we close, we perform a flushing of the building. This includes operating the exhaust fans as well as opening the outside air dampers to 100%.
• We have increased our pre-filter change out schedule and changed our final filters to MERV 14. 
• The interiors of our air handlers and air conditioning coils have been disinfected prior to our reopening and will be a part of scheduled preventive maintenance of the aquarium.

Who needs to wear a mask?

Masks are required for all visitors over the age of 2.

Recommended masks

• Non-medical disposable masks
• Masks that fit properly (snugly around the nose and chin with no large gaps around the sides of the face)
• Masks made with breathable fabric (such as cotton)
• Masks made with tightly woven fabric (i.e., fabrics that do not let light pass through when held up to a light source)
• Masks with two or three layers and with inner filter pockets

Masks not recommended

• Masks that do not fit properly (large gaps, too loose or too tight)
  
• Masks made from materials that are hard to breathe through (such as plastic or leather)
• Masks made from loosely woven fabric or that are knitted, i.e., fabrics that let light pass through
• Masks with one layer
• Masks with exhalation valves or vents
• Wearing a scarf/ski mask as a mask