The CDC has released new guidelines related to fall holiday celebrations, and among those are guidelines for Halloween. To help guide families during the pandemic, the health organization outlined Halloween activities deemed low risk, moderate risk, and high risk. Unsurprisingly, typical Halloween traditions top the high-risk list.
Topping the higher risk activities list are traditional trick-or-treating as well as truck-or-treating where treats are handed out from trunks of cards lined up in a parking lot.
Other high-risk activities include attending indoor costume parties, going to indoor haunted houses, and going on hayrides or tractor rides with people outside of your household. The CDC also warns against alcohol or drug use, which they say “can cloud judgment and increase risky behaviors.” The list concludes with a highly specific guideline, which aims to protect rural communities that haven’t been as hard hit by COVID-19. The guideline suggests that if you live in an area with the spread of COVID-19, you should not travel to a rural fall festival outside your community.
So what alternatives does the CDC provide for these traditional Halloween activities?
The organization offers up one-way trick-or-treating where individually wrapped goodie bags are lined up for families to grab and go while continuing to social distance as a moderate risk solution to trick or treating.
For those looking to celebrate with a party, the CDC lists an outdoor costume party where protective masks and social distancing are enforced as a moderate risk alternative to an indoor party. They do add, however, that a Halloween mask is not a substitute for a cloth mask.
For folks who need their local haunt fix, the CDC recommends going to an open-air, one-way walk-through haunted forest where mask use and social distancing is enforced.
The safest alternatives offered by the CDC all revolve around staying home. For those looking for the least amount of risk when it comes to celebrating Halloween during the pandemic, the CDC offers the following activities:
- Carving or decorating pumpkins with members of your household and displaying them
- Carving or decorating pumpkins outside, at a safe distance, with neighbors or friends
- Decorating your house, apartment, or living space
- Doing a Halloween scavenger hunt where children are given lists of Halloween-themed things to look for while they walk outdoors from house to house admiring Halloween decorations at a distance
- Having a virtual Halloween costume contest
- Having a Halloween movie night with people you live with
- Having a scavenger hunt-style trick-or-treat search with your household members in or around your home rather than going house to house
The complete CDC guidelines on how to celebrate Halloween safely can be found here and feature a few additional moderate risk activities as well as further details on how best to stay safe. How do you plan to celebrate Halloween this year? Let me know in the comments, or let me know on social media!
