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 will be open, weather permitting. Yes, you can touch! Scrubbing your hands with soap and water for at least 20-seconds keeps you and the animals safe. Be sure to wash your hands again when you leave! 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. Weather-permitting, Shedd's outdoor terraces will be open for seating with tables spaced 6-feet apart for guests who bring their own food. However, due to the possibility of inclement weather, we recommend eating before or after your visit. No food will be available for purchase. To support social distancing, please wait until you are seated outside with food ready before removing your mask to eat.
• 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.