For weeks many communities nationwide have anguished over how to handle or modify Halloween trick-or-treating in this year of COVID-19. Los Angeles made headlines last month by canceling the time-honored ritual altogether.
Last month the Center for Disease Control officially designated trick-or-treating a “high risk” activity. It’s likely, however, that few Georgia communities are going to ban the practice (Milledgeville and Avondale Estates are two cities that have cancelled).
Sometime next week Decatur will post a Halloween safety campaign with a set of trick-or-treating guidelines according to City Manager Andrea Arnold. The city has cancelled its Haints and Saints parade, an annual event organized by HomeGrown Decatur since 2011. There will be no block or street parties, but the city has never allowed those during Halloween anyway.
“In talking to the Georgia Municipal Association, to health experts and mayors in other cities,” Arnold said, “it’s generally agreed that people need an event to look forward too, to stay mentally healthy.”
Arnold said some of this year’s guidelines include:
*Incorporating a COVID-19 mask into your costume (a typical Halloween mask might not be snug enough to block the spread of the coronavirus.)
*Practice physical distancing by staying at least six feet from other people. One delivery method for homeowners might be laying candy on a table and remaining at least six feet away.
*Bring hand sanitizer before delving into a candy stash
* If a homeowner’s nervous about exposure to a bevy of ghouls, ghosts, skeletons or costumed souls with Donald-Trump hair (some individual Decatur homes draw up and beyond 500 trick-or-treaters each), then close your door, turn off the lights a shut 'er down.
*Large groups are definitely discouraged—trick-or-treat with a buddy. Smaller goblins should go earlier.
Additionally, the CDC recommends that “Going door-to-door collecting candy from multiple households is not advised during a pandemic.” One alternative is “one-way trick-or-treating [meaning] you put out individually wrapped bags of candy for people to take from an appropriate distance. For example, you could position bags of candy on your driveway or front lawn. (Of course, you should practice good hand hygiene when preparing food).”
Another idea includes “taking a walk and doing a scavenger hunt of Halloween-themed items in your neighborhood, so you can admire the decorations while maintaining social distance.”
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