The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued guidelines recommending against traditional Halloween activities this fall due to the pandemic.
The agency says Halloween staples like door-to-door trick-or-treating, crowded costume parties, and haunted houses are considered higher risk for transmitting COVID-19.
Other higher risk activities listed by the CDC include:
- 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
The CDC lists a number of moderate risk and lower-risk Halloween activities to use as alternatives for high risk activities.
Moderate risk activities listed by the CDC include:
- Having a small group, outdoor, open-air costume parade where people are distanced more than 6 feet apart
- Attending a costume party held outdoors where protective masks are used and people can remain more than 6 feet apart
- Going to an open-air, one-way, walk-through haunted forest where appropriate mask use is enforced, and people can remain more than 6 feet apart
- Visiting pumpkin patches or orchards where people use hand sanitizer before touching pumpkins or picking apples, wearing masks is encouraged or enforced, and people are able to maintain social distancing
- Having an outdoor Halloween movie night with local family friends with people spaced at least 6 feet apart
Lower risk activities listed by the CDC include:
- Carving or decorating pumpkins with members of your household and displaying them
- 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