Visitor facilities at many national parks, including Big Bend in Texas (above) were closing Tuesday in an effort to halt the spread of COVID-19/Rebecca Latson file

Editor's note: This updates with additional closings.

Visitor facilities, hotels, museums, ranger programs, and other visitor services across the National Park System shut down Tuesday, hours after park superintendents were given the authority to do what they thought best to prevent the spread of coronavirus in the parks. Shuttle systems ground to a halt, visitor centers closed, as did some entrance stations and campgrounds, and ranger-led tours and concessionaire-provided activities were halted in many parks. Even the iconic Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite National Park shut down.

“The health and safety of our visitors, employees, volunteers, and partners is the priority of the National Park Service,” Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt said Tuesday morning. “Park superintendents are empowered to modify their operations, including closing facilities and cancelling programs, to address the spread of the coronavirus.” 

Within hours a flurry of closings were announced by parks from Pearl Harbor National Memorial in Hawaii to Biscayne National Park in Florida. 

Big Bend National Park in Texas said the Chisos Mountains Lodge would stay open though its bar was closed and the restaurant would try to operate on a takeout and room delivery basis. At Everglades National Park in Florida, officials said the Long Pine and Flamingo campgrounds were being closed, though restrooms would remain open and be cleaned as best possible. At Zion Natonal Park in Utah, officials shut down the park shuttle system and said visitors would be allowed to drive up the Zion Canyon Scenic Drive until the limited parking in the canyon had filled. Once parking filled, the Zion Canyon Scenic Drive would be closed and opened intermittently as parking spaces became available.

Theresa Pierno, president and CEO of the National Parks Conservation Association, said that “(I)t is the job of national park superintendents to ensure the safety of their park, their staff, their visitors and their community. Superintendents must be supported as they make decisions to close visitor centers, buildings and areas within parks. In some cases, they will need to make the difficult decision to close entire parks. The best way we can support national park leaders is to heed their guidance and refrain from visiting sites until a time when they are deemed safe to reopen. These are unprecedented times, and we need to make sure park staff and visitors’ health come first.”

Here's a partial listing of closures elsewhere in the park system:

* Public facilities at the Roosevelt-Vanderbilt National Historic Sites in Hyde Park, New York, were closed;

* The welcome center at Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park in New Jersey was closed;

* Visitor centers at Cumberland, Williamsport, and Great Falls Tavern along the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park were temporarily closed;

* Visitor programs and tours at Biscayne National Park in Florida were suspended;

* Pearl Harbor National Memorial in Hawaii was closing;

* The Longmire Museum and Paradise Jackson Visitor Center at Mount Rainier National Park are closed;

* The Kīlauea Visitor Center at Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park was closed and visitor programs suspended;

* At Haleakalā National Park, all sunrise reservations were cancelled, the Summit District was being closed from 3 a.m. to 7 a.m., all visitor centers were closed, and all backcountry access was closed;

* Dry Tortugas National Park in Florida closed visitor centers and suspended all ranger-led programs and those led by concessonaires;

* Capitol Reef National Park in Utah closed its visitor center and Gifford House;

* The Quarry Visitor Center and Quarry Exhibit Hall at Dinosaur National Monument in Utah/Colorado closed;

* At Gettysburg National Military Park the visitor center and museum closed;

* Fort Pulaski National Monument in Georgia shut down;

* The Roosevelt Home, Old Orchard Museum, and all restrooms at Sagamore Hill National Historic Site were closed and visitor programs suspended;

* Independent National Historical Park in Philadelphia was closed;

* Public facilities at Gateway National Recreation Area in the greater New York-New Jersey metropolitan area were closed;

* Effigy Mounds National Monument in Iowa closed its visitor center and all indoor facilities;

* Assateauge Island National Seashore in Maryland closed its visitor centers, visitor contact/ranger station, and campgrounds until further notice. "Where it is possible to adhere to the latest health guidance, beaches, parking areas, trails and the Oversand Vehicle Zone (permit holders only) will remain open," the seashore staff noted.

* At Delaware National Recreation Area in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, all public buildings were closed until further notice. This includes all public restrooms, volunteer- and partner-operated buildings, and the visitor information desk at Bushkill Meeting Center. Park trails and parking areas remain open except those that have been closed for repairs or the winter season;

* The the Moores Creek National Battlefield Visitor Center in North Carolina was closed;

* Great Smoky Mountains National Park closed its Sugarlands, Oconaluftee, and Cades Cove visitor centers;

* Colorado National Monument closed the Saddlehorn Visitor Center;

* The Travertine Nature Center at Chickasaw National Recreation Area in Oklahoma closed;

* Indiana Dunes National Park in Indiana closed all its public facilities;

* At Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park in Virgina closures included the Fredericksburg Battlefield Visitor Center, Chancellorsville Battlefield Visitor Center, Chatham Manor, and Stonewall Jackson Death Site;

* The Asheville Visitor Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway also closed.