LOCAL

Indoor or outdoor museum? Lake Shasta Caverns suspends cave tours to comply with rules

David Benda
Redding Record Searchlight

After going back and forth with local health officials for weeks, Lake Shasta Caverns has decided to suspend its cave tours while it works to find ways to be better compliant with COVID-19 guidelines.

“It’s extremely frustrating, and of course, everybody is going to think, ‘Oh, they screwed up.’ We didn’t do anything wrong," caverns General Manager Matt Doyle said Monday afternoon.

Doyle emphasized that only cave tours have closed at this time. Other parts of the business, including the gift shop, remain open. The business also is starting tours of Lake Shasta.

The temperature inside the Lake Shasta Caverns is always 58, no matter how hot it gets outside.

In compliance with state COVID guidelines, other venues that are closed in the Redding area include indoor movie theaters, sports venues like baseball stadiums with live audiences, and entertainment venues such as the Redding Civic Auditorium and Cascade Theatre.

Shasta County has extra leeway than most California counties due to its low COVID-19 rate and allows outdoor service only at these businesses: Restaurants and wineries, family entertainment centers such as bowling alleys, miniature golf, batting cages and arcades, galleries, zoos, aquariums, card rooms and museums.

The issue is whether the caverns, a national natural landmark, is an indoor or outdoor museum.

"The only reason we are being shut down is because the state does not know how to classify a cave," Doyle said.

Shasta County has had over 500 confirmed coronavirus cases and 10 deaths as of Monday.

The virus, according to the Centers for Disease Control, is primarily spread from one person to another through respiratory droplets propelled by coughing and sneezing and is transferred to others who inhale the virus.

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“Shasta Caverns has been a tricky one from the beginning, because their facility is so unusual and there is no state guidance for caves. The closest guidance we have for a facility like theirs is indoor museums,” Shasta County Health and Human Services Agency spokeswoman Kerri Schuette said in an email to the Record Searchlight.

Meanwhile, social-distancing guidelines by the CDC recommend people maintain at least 6 feet or more distance between them. The CDC also states that public gatherings need to be limited.

Lake Shasta Caverns received a letter from the county health department on July 24 that said the state issued new guidelines that included indoor museums and family entertainment centers, which Gov. Gavin Newsom had ordered to close on July 13.

The caverns responded in a July 31 letter to local health officials that while the lack of light suggests the caverns are enclosed, there is the free flow of outdoor air throughout the cave system and the caves are open to the elements.

Caverns tours include a boat ride, bus ride and panoramic view of Lake Shasta.

“There are no fans or mechanical means to provide this, it is a natural free flow of air,” the letter stated.

Doyle and company also said in the letter that Lake Shasta Caverns can’t be categorized as an enclosed building, per the California Health and Safety Code, because it does not meet “the criteria of an architectural design.”

“It doesn’t rain inside a usual store. Do you have to chase wild animals out of a usual store or indoor museum?” Doyle said.

Doyle said when the state reopened in May, the caverns sent health officials an explanation of what the attraction was doing to meet health guidelines. It included operating more buses and boats for better social distancing.

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A cave tour starts with a boat ride across Lake Shasta, then visitors board a bus up to the entrance of the caves.

The July 31 response letter to county officials asked them to reconsider the caverns’ classification.

“Until such time, we will continue to operate safe procedures in accordance to Outdoor Museums and will certainly notify you if there is a question or concern regarding our guests in relation to COVID-19,” the letter concluded.

But Doyle said that after talking to the caverns owners, they decided to suspend cave tours.

“All of last week I had the opportunity to talk to the owners and get out of them what we want to do. It was a mutual decision among the owners and myself to show respect for the community,” Doyle said.

Meanwhile, Doyle said he wants to keep people employed.

"I want to make sure our employees have jobs. We are creating new lake tours," he said.

David Benda covers business, development and anything else that comes up for the USA TODAY Network in Redding. He also writes the weekly "Buzz on the Street" column. He’s part of a team of dedicated reporters that investigate wrongdoing, cover breaking news and tell other stories about your community. Reach him on Twitter @DavidBenda_RS or by phone at 1-530-225-8219. To support and sustain this work, please subscribe today.