CDC updates recommendations for safe Halloween celebrations

With Halloween just around the corner and other fall festivals approaching fast, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has updated its guidelines for celebrating safely during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Among the guidelines for Halloween is not to wear a costume mask. Wearing a costume mask without a cloth mask won’t provide protection, but wearing one with a cloth mask could make it difficult to breathe. Instead, consider a Halloween-themed cloth mask.

The CDC considers these activities high risk for Halloween:

• 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

Among recommended low-risk activities, the CDC lists the following alternatives:

• 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

For more information, visit the CDC website.