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CDC issues COVID-19 guidelines for Halloween, classifies trick-or-treating as 'high risk'

Haunted houses also high risk
CDC issues COVID-19 guidelines for Halloween, classifies trick-or-treating as 'high risk'
Posted at 7:14 AM, Sep 22, 2020
and last updated 2020-09-28 12:31:03-04

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued its first guidelines for celebrating Halloween amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The CDC has listed a number of ways to celebrate the holiday and categorized them as low, moderate or high-risk activities.

"High risk" Halloween activities:

  • Traditional trick-or-treating
  • Crowded indoor costume parties
  • Indoor haunted houses
  • Hayrides or tractor rides with people not in a family or who don't live together

"Moderate risk" Halloween activities:

  • One-way trick-or-treating, with bags lined up for families outdoors, and social distance maintained
  • Costume parties outdoors where people can remain six feet apart
  • Open-air, one-way, walk-through haunted forest visits
  • Visiting pumpkin patches or going apple picking, while maintaining social distancing, wearing masks, and using hand sanitizer

"Low-risk" Halloween activities:

  • Carving and decorating pumpkins with the family or members of a household
  • Decorating a house, apartment or living space
  • Having a virtual Halloween costume contest
  • Having a family or household Halloween movie night

For a look at the full guidelines, visit the CDC website here.

This story was originally published by Katie Morse on WKBW in Buffalo, New York.