Unique ways to trick or treat this Halloween amid the coronavirus pandemic

The CDC has released official guidance for celebrating several upcoming holidays, including Halloween, amid the coronavirus pandemic. 

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Among the high-risk activities the agency is asking people to avoid for Halloween are:

• Traditional, door-to-door trick-or-treating. 
• Trunk-or-treats. 
• Attending crowded, indoor costume parties. 
• Visiting indoor haunted houses. 
• Going on hayrides with people not in your household. 
• Using alcohol or drugs, which can cloud judgment 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.

(Photo by Vural Elibol/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Moderate-risk activities include:

• Participating in one-way trick-or-treating where individually wrapped goodie bags are lined up for families to grab and go while continuing to social distance (such as at the end of a driveway or at the edge of a yard)
• If you are preparing goodie bags, wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds before and after preparing the bags.
• 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 (not costume 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.  
• If screaming will likely occur, greater distancing is advised. The greater the distance, the lower the risk of spreading a respiratory virus.
• 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. 

Safe alternatives or low-risk ideas include:

• Carving or decorating pumpkins outside, at a safe distance, with neighbors or friends. 
• 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.