The American Dream mall is heeding the call of officials and public health agencies.

The partially-opened mega-mall will close Monday, March 16 to “help mitigate the spread of COVID-19,” according to a statement released late Friday afternoon.

“We anticipate remaining closed through the end of March, but will continue to monitor the ongoing situation and follow the guidance of federal and state officials and public health agencies,” the statement says.

American Dream was supposed to open its DreamWorks Water Park on Thursday, March 19, along with an unspecified number of stores and restaurants.

“We will provide information about new dates soon, as we continue to work with and follow guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, New Jersey Department of Health and the Bergen County Department of Health Services,” the statement says.

DreamWorks Water Park and Nickelodeon Universe tickets purchased for March 16 through March 31 will be extended for use through December 31.

There have been no reported cases of the coronavirus at American Dream, according to the statement.

American Dream is located in East Rutherford, in Bergen County, which has the highest concentration of residents who have been diagnosed with the coronavirus. The county has closed all of its 75 school districts, as well as many other places of public gathering.

American Dream had roughly 800,000 visitors as of January, according to figures provided by the mall. The Nickelodeon Universe theme park has regularly drawn 10,000 visitors in a day and had to be closed on several occasions because it hit its 7,000 person capacity.

This latest delay is another in a long history of setbacks the development has endured.

The project originally went out to bid 17 years ago and has been through three developers, funding snags, construction stops and other missed deadlines -- most recently for the water park, which was supposed to open in November.

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See more of our ongoing coverage of the American Dream mega-mall here.

Allison Pries may be reached at apries@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter@AllisonPries. Find NJ.com on Facebook.