The Ohio Department of Health has released a series of recommendations for how to safely handle Halloween and festive fall activities during the pandemic — and which events to scrap/avoid entirely.
But that doesn't mean Halloween won't be fun in 2020. What's more fun than getting super creative with your masks? (The CDC would like to remind humans that monster masks/Jason Vorhees hockey masks are not a substitute for cloth face masks, and you shouldn't wear both at the same time... because you don't want to suffocate.)
Ohio's Responsible ReStart Halloween guidance "strongly recommends" to avoid the following:
- Hayrides and haunted houses.
- Traditional trick-or-treating where you go from house to house accepting candy from/interacting with strangers.
- Halloween parties. If you are hosting a Halloween party, limit attendance to 10 or less and try to go outside or somewhere where social distancing is possible.
- Bobbing for apples (which is also gross during a non-pandemic).
Socially distant solutions and alternatives from the ODH?
- Holding a drive-through or drive-in trick-or-treat event, with children in costume and face coverings staying in cars and collecting treats from individuals spaced at least 6 feet apart.
- Holding drive-by costume or car-decorating contests with judges who are physically distanced.
- Leaving treats for friends and neighbors.
- Decorating your home and hide treats as an alternative to trick-or-treating.
- Holding costume parties or pumpkin carving events or contests online, such as by video conference.
The National Retail Federation has found that while overall consumer spending may dip to $8.05 billion this Halloween — down from $8.78 billion last year — due to COVID, those who are celebrating are planning to spend more, going big while staying at home. A typical consumer engaging in Halloween festivities is slated to spend $92.12 on average compared to $86.27 last year.
And it seems like people are still buying massive amounts of Halloween candy. According to the National Confectioners Association, sales are up. Total Halloween chocolate and candy sales were up 13% for the week ending Sept. 6 (over the same period last year) due to an increase in Halloween chocolate purchases — up 25.3% on its own.
So will people just be sitting around at home in their costumes consuming copious amounts of pumpkin-shaped peanut butter cups with friends via Zoom? Maybe.
And if you can't handle the thought of Halloween without trick-or-treating, the ODH does have some more specific guidance, like avoid using a common candy bowl where kids can stick their hands in and grab things, set up a hand sanitizing station and ensure social distancing. They also say you could prepare individual goodie bags and set them out in your yard or driveway and ask kids to take one. (Note: The "take one" policy rarely works with kids — they tend to take many — and, for some reason, sticking random unattended bags of candy out in the yard to attract children seems slightly more creepy than traditional trick-or-treating.)
If you aren't a fan of the candy bag concept, the ODH also suggests "other creative ways to distribute treats, such as using a candy 'slide' made of PVC pipe, or hanging treats from a wall or fence."
