Universal Resorts in Hollywood and Orlando to Close Amid Coronavirus Pandemic

Universal Studios Hollywood in California and Universal Orlando Resort will close amid the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S.

A pair of announcements on Thursday followed shortly after similar statements from Disneyland and Walt Disney World, which will also shut down temporarily.

The theme parks are the latest in a series of tourist attractions to close both stateside and abroad due to the pandemic.

Universal Studios Hollywood will be closing on March 14, with tentative plans to reopen on March 28 as officials continue to monitor the public health situation in the state, according to the Los Angeles Times. Universal CityWalk will remain open.

On Wednesday, the office of California Governor Gavin Newsom released a statement detailing recommendations from state health officials that gatherings of 250 people or more be canceled or postponed statewide in order to quell the spread of the deadly virus.

Universal Orlando Resort will close at the end of the business day on Sunday and will likely last until the end of March, according to a statement acquired by PEOPLE. Universal's Orlando hotels and Universal CityWalk will remain open.

Florida's governor has also declared a state of emergency in order to redirect funds to fight coronavirus and deploy National Guard troops if necessary, but most attractions there remain open as of Thursday evening.

Before deciding to close their parks, Disney and Universal both told PEOPLE that they were taking extra precautions to protect guests, including stringent sanitation policies and placement of additional hand sanitizing stations.

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the best prevention methods against COVID-19 are basic forms of hygiene - careful handwashing, avoiding touching the face, moving away from people who are coughing or sneezing and staying home at signs of illness.

Some experts are also suggesting that communities practice "social distancing," described by Harvard Health as "maintaining enough distance between yourself and another person to reduce the risk of breathing in droplets that are produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes."

As of Thursday morning, there are 1,269 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the U.S., and 37 people have died. California has the third-most cases in the country, with 139. Four people in the state have died.

The World Health Organization announced on Wednesday that COVID-19 has now been officially categorized as a pandemic. A pandemic is "the worldwide spread of a new disease," for which people do not have immunity, that has spread globally at an alarming speed and an alarming level of severity, according to the WHO. "Viruses that have caused past pandemics typically originated from animal influenza viruses," the organization explains on their website.

The last time a virus reached this level was in 2009, when WHO declared the outbreak of H1N1 influenza a global pandemic. At the time, H1N1 was referred to as the "swine flu" because the virus showed similar genes to influenza viruses that occurred in pigs in North America, according to the CDC.