A Pandemic Halloween

The guidance also reiterates the importance of hand hygiene, masks and social distancing while trick-or-treating or giving out candy.

Inherently Risky

Orange County hadn’t yet issued official guidance as of press time, but L.A. and Ventura County health officials are not sanguine about trick-or-treating safely.

L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer, Ph.D., MPH, M.Ed., declares, “We don’t think it’s an appropriate activity during a pandemic.”

Ferrer says sharing food, even prepackaged candy or treat bags, is inherently risky. So activities like “trunk-or-treating” (where kids take goodies from the trunk of a car) aren’t necessarily safer than going door-to-door.

Party Off

In-person parties or gatherings involving multiple households are still prohibited statewide, and amusement parks and haunted house attractions remain closed. Some drive-in events are still allowed, as are Halloween events at outdoor restaurants. However, your safest bet is an online costume party, a social media pumpkin-carving contest or a scary movie night for your family or quarantine pod.

As for Halloween costumes, the CDC warns that a costume mask “is not a substitute for a cloth mask … [and] should not be used unless it is made of two or more layers of breathable fabric that covers the mouth and nose and doesn’t leave gaps around the face.”

They also caution against combining cloth masks with costume masks that restrict breathing.

In this Article: COVID-19, Public Health