The Washington Monument is closed again — and this time it’s not due to an elevator malfunction or an earthquake, but a potential COVID-19 spread related to Department of the Interior Secretary David Bernhardt.

Bernhardt, who tested positive for the virus on Wednesday, gave a private tour of the monument for department appointees this week, according to DOI spokesperson Nicholas Goodwin. The monument will be closed starting Friday, as employees exposed to Bernhardt during the tour quarantine.

“In working with our public officials and out of an abundance of caution, a couple of employees have quarantined resulting in a temporary workforce reduction at the monument and its temporary closure,” Goodwin wrote in an email to DCist/WAMU. The Washington Post first reported the closure.

Goodwin did not specify which day the tour took place.

A statement on the National Park Service website reads “Consistent with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance in coordination with the NPS Office of Public Health, the Washington Monument is temporarily closed due to a reduction in its workforce resulting from a potential COVID-19 exposure.”

The monument only reopened on Oct. 1 with limited capacity and new safety measures, after closing for six months due to the pandemic. Last week, D.C. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton wrote a letter urging the National Park Service to close the monument, citing reported coronavirus cases amongst NPS staff members and the surge of cases across the region.

“I understand that there have been at least four cases of COVID-19 and one hospitalization among NPS employees who work on the National Mall,” she wrote to acting NPS director Margaret Everson.

In an emailed statement to DCist, Goodwin stated that since the monument reopened on Oct 1., no NPS employee working there has tested positive for COVID-19.

The closure marks yet another stumbling block for the monument, which has experienced intermittent closures over the past decade. An earthquake in 2011 led to two years and $15 million in repairs. In 2016, it closed again to address elevator repairs and create a new security screening facility. It finally reopened to the public in September 2019, only to be closed months later as the pandemic rolled through D.C.

Goodwin says the monument will reopen on Dec. 21, with ticket sales available on Dec. 20.