Friday’s remembrance ceremony at Flight 93 National Memorial will be closed to the public, the National Park Service announced Wednesday.

The annual ceremony, which is abbreviated this year because of the coronavirus pandemic, will be livestreamed at nps.gov/flni by EarthCam. The Somerset County memorial will be open to the public after the ceremony ends.

The ceremony marking the 19th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks will be attended by President Donald Trump, Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt and others, according to the park service. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden is expected to attend, according to The Washington Post.

Park superintendent Stephen Clark said he believes closing the ceremony to the public will help reduce the spread of the virus.

“After consulting with the U.S. Office of Public Health and the Families of Flight 93, I believe this closure will minimize overcrowding and allow for a safe memorial observance during this unprecedented time,” he said in a statement.

Terrorists hijacked United Airlines Flight 93 and the 40 passengers and crew members aboard died as they wrested control of the plane away, crashing into a field in Stonycreek Township.

Nearly 3,000 people were killed on Sept. 11, 2001, when hijackers flew commercial airplanes into New York City’s World Trade Center, the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and the field just outside of Shanksville. The passengers and crew aboard United Flight 93 are credited with trying to breach the cockpit after four hijackers tried to fly the plane to a suspected target in the nation’s capital.

The park will close at sunset Thursday and reopen to the public after the ceremony. The visitor center will stay open until 7 p.m. Friday. The number of people inside the center will be monitored.

The National Park Service announced in July that the regular 90-minute service would be shortened to 20 minutes by eliminating speakers and music. The service Friday in the Memorial Plaza will start at 9:45 a.m. and include the reading of the names of the 40 passengers and crew members leading up to 10:03 a.m., when the plane crashed.

That change initially was made to limit in-person attendance. The annual ceremony has been attended by 1,000 people in the past.

Gordon Felt, president of Families of Flight 93, said the adjustment will allow the park service to protect visitors while still honoring the heroes on the airplane.

The park reopened on May 15, after being closed for 59 days during the early stages of Pennsylvania’s pandemic-related restrictions.

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