Spooky season is almost upon us. And, if you’re planning to celebrate Halloween amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have a few important tips for keeping your festivities as safe as possible this year.
There are a few factors to keep in mind that can make any gathering or activity you’re planning riskier, the CDC recommendations explain. Generally, gatherings that involve fewer people, take place outside, are shorter in duration, and allow for proper social distancing and face masks are less risky. Unfortunately, your costume mask cannot take the place of an actual cloth mask, and the CDC doesn’t recommend wearing a costume mask over a cloth mask because that could make it harder to breathe. Instead, the CDC suggests wearing a Halloween-themed cloth mask.
When thinking about those factors, some activities are definitely likely to be more risky than others. The CDC lists these as the higher risk activities, which means you should avoid them if at all possible:
- Participating in traditional trick-or-treating where treats are handed to children who go door to door
- Having trunk-or-treat where treats are handed out from trunks of cars lined up in large parking lots
- Attending crowded costume parties held indoors
- Going to an indoor haunted house where people may be crowded together and screaming
- Going on hayrides or tractor rides with people who are not in your household
- Using alcohol or drugs, which can cloud judgement and increase risky behaviors
- Traveling to a rural fall festival that is not in your community if you live in an area with community spread of COVID-19
On the other hand, the CDC also lists a few low-risk activities that still allow you to get into the spooky spirit. Those activities include carving pumpkins with people you live with or with your neighbors or friends at a safe distance, the CDC suggests. If you have the space for it, you can also get creative and host an outdoor scavenger hunt with Halloween-themed things that children can look for as they walk from house to house (and admire the decoration from a safe distance). Or, you could set up a scavenger hunt in your home for members of your household.
You can also take advantage of video calling apps, such as Zoom or Skype, and have a virtual costume contest with your friends. Scary movies are always a good way to celebrate the season as well, and the CDC recommends enjoying them with members of your household. Or, you can use tools like Netflix Party, Amazon Watch Party, or Hulu Watch Party to watch streaming movies or TV online with your friends.
The CDC also lists some moderate-risk activities, which includes going to a one-way open-air haunted forest, trick-or-treating line, or costume parade type of event. Visiting a pumpkin patch or orchard is also listed as a moderate-risk activity, as long as you use hand sanitizer before picking your produce of choice and mask-wearing is enforced. Having a socially distanced outdoor movie night with local friends also presents a moderate risk, the CDC says. And the further away you’re spaced from each other, the safer the activity will be.
Halloween during COVID-19 may feel a little different than other years, but that doesn’t mean you can’t celebrate it at all. Large indoor gatherings and traditional trick-or-treating are riskier activities and should be avoided, the CDC says. But there are plenty of other ways to get into the spirit of the holiday from home, with those you already live with, or with friends and family virtually—you might just have to get a little creative.