"The National Park Service headed toward a partial shutdown today as officials scrambled to close park sites and facilities across the country in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Park officials closed sites in Florida, Utah, Georgia, Arizona, Texas, Pennsylvania, Washington state, Iowa and Hawaii, including the Pearl Harbor National Memorial.

The closings affected parks both big and small in different ways: Mount Rainier National Park in Washington state said it had shuttered its popular Paradise Jackson Visitor Center and Longmire Museum, while the Casa Grande Ruins National Monument in Arizona said it would suspend all of its operations, beginning today.

With some parks closing and others remaining open, the NPS response to the health crisis quickly evolved into a replay of the agency's controversial handling of last year's partial government shutdown."

Rob Hotakainen reports for Greenwire March 17, 2020. [2]

SEE ALSO:

"National Parks Are Finally Taking Coronavirus Seriously" (HuffPost) [3]

"US National Parks Cause Public Health Concern As Visitors Flood In" (Guardian) [4]