Is it safe to trick-or-treat this year? What the CDC says about Halloween and COVID-19
With Halloween fast approaching, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is offering guidance on how to safely celebrate the holiday.
Traditional trick-or-treating has been deemed a “high-risk” activity by the CDC this Halloween. The popular activity has already been canceled in some areas throughout the country.
“I don’t think trick-or-treating is a great idea,” Dr. Sandra Kesh, an infectious disease specialist and the deputy medical director at New York’s Westmed Medical Group, told Good Housekeeping. “In areas where the community prevalence is lower, I think it’s okay to plan to trick-or-treat, but it’s going to be a different experience than it was last year.”
If you do trick-or-treat, guidelines offered by the Halloween & Costume Association include doing it with people you live with, social distancing from others, wearing a mask and applying hand sanitizer. Homeowners should also wear masks, distance yourself from trick-or-treaters, wash hands often and not hand out candy if you’re sick.
The CDC also recommends you avoid crowded indoor costume parties, indoor haunted houses and hayrides with people not in your household.
What are safer ways to celebrate Halloween this year?
Safe alternatives for traditional Halloween activities include carving and decorating pumpkins outside or with members of your household, holding virtual costume contests and holding Halloween scavenger hunts with children, according to the CDC.
“Like with so many other things this year, we have to try to find a silver lining when it comes to celebrating Halloween,” Seattle area pediatrician Dr. Mollie Grow told Today.com. “All the things we’d usually do-in person, like birthdays or graduations, we’ve figured out other ways to do them safely, so we need to apply that same creativity to Halloween.”
Designing your own costumes, making fall recipes and trick-or-treating around the house are other safe Halloween alternatives Today.com recommends.
Possible activities for adults include hosting an online murder mystery party, Halloween karaoke or binging horror movies, the Halloween & Costume Association said
Halloween activities with moderate risks, according to the CDC, include small, outdoor costume parades and socially-distanced outdoor costume parties, pumpkin patches and one-way trick-or-treating with individually-wrapped goodie bags for children to grab.
But if you do wear a costume — even one with a mask — don’t forget proper protection.
“A costume mask is not a substitute for a cloth mask,” the CDC said. “A costume mask should not be used unless it is made of two or more layers of breathable fabric that covers the mouth and nose and doesn’t leave gaps around the face.”
