The Columbia River Maritime Museum, one of the North Coast’s most popular tourist attractions, will close until further notice over concerns about the coronavirus.

The nonprofit Astoria museum, which had more than 115,000 visitors last year, made the decision to close to help ensure visitors did not contribute to the spread of COVID-19 and overwhelm the regional health care system.

“The prudent thing to do that’s looking out for the interests of the community and our own visitors and staff is to close to the public to reduce the instance of transmission of the virus,” Bruce Jones, the museum’s deputy director and Astoria’s mayor, said on Sunday.

“Everything we’ve read indicates that the virus is probably already in the community, or else it will be here very soon, and when it gets here it will spread rapidly from person to person.

“And we want to do our part, as a leading local institution, to remove ourselves from the transmission equation and try to slow down the spread of the virus.”

Jones said the decision to close was difficult. Admissions, store sales and 3D film tickets make up more than 65% of the museum’s annual revenue.

“It’s a very painful decision because, like most nonprofits, we rely on our visitation for our revenue,” he said. “But I think the Liberty Theatre did the responsible thing really early, and we’re trying to follow their lead and do the responsible thing and protect our guests and visitors and the community.”

Clatsop County commissioners are holding a special meeting on Monday afternoon to decide whether to declare a local emergency.

Jones will recommend that the Astoria City Council declare a local emergency at a meeting Monday night. The declaration, the city said, would enable the city to take actions in response to the outbreak and help qualify for state and federal aid.

The Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport also announced on Sunday that it will close for two weeks because of the virus.