One in every six American museums faces “significant risk” of closing permanently because of financial duress exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to survey results released Wednesday by the American Alliance of Museums.

Of 648 museum directors who answered a survey question about the threat of permanent closure, 16 percent said there was significant risk that operations would cease within 16 months if coronavirus-related closures continued and institutions could not find financial relief.

Endowments and other financial reserves are often not large enough to keep museums afloat very long. Of 521 museums that responded to a survey question about operating reserves, only 1 in 3 said it had reserves that would last a year or more. The majority — 56 percent — said reserves would last six months or less.

“It’s mind-boggling,” American Alliance of Museums President Laura Lott said in an interview. “For hundreds of years, museums have been there to collect, preserve, interpret and share what our culture determines is important for future generations to be able to experience and be inspired by and learn from. And the prospect of so much of that going away is really devastating to a culture.”

The federal Paycheck Protection Program, Lott said, has been a lifeline for many museums during the last few months.

“Congress is considering another reiteration of it in the latter half of this year, but as it stands right now, that funding runs out for many museums this summer,” she said. “I fully expect we’ll see another round of layoffs and furloughs and potential closures as a result of struggles many of us thought would be better by now.”

Permanent museum closures leave not only a cultural void but also an economic vacuum. According to the alliance’s 2018 “Museums as Economic Engines” report, museums are responsible for 726,000 salaried and contracted jobs annually. In the AAM survey, 243 museums reported laying off or furloughing at least 20 percent of their staff.

In response to a survey question about workforce employment, only 50 percent of respondents said they expect to reopen with the same number of staffers as before the pandemic.

“The effects on local economies, jobs and tourism is devastating in and of itself,” Lott said.

Even for museums that can ride out the pandemic, Lott said, the long-term prognosis is bleak.

“As they reopen we’ll see reduction in services, educational programming, the new exhibits they’re able to mount,” she said. “I just think all of that will be on austerity budgets.”