Halloween
October 27, 2020 Halloween of 2020 2020’s Halloween was supposed to be one of the greatest. It is on a Saturday (no school the next day), it is a full moon, and it’s going to be a blue moon. The only thing missing is safety. Trick-or-treating is a beloved Halloween tradition, kids, teens, and some adults go door to door getting candy, seeing friends, and looking at the creative Halloween decorations. This year however, things might not be the same. Usually Tejon Street in the Old North End is bustling with activity on Halloween. The streets are packed with superheroes, princesses, wizards, and TV characters going from house to house. Some people from other neighborhoods even drive to Tejon just to trick-or-treat. Because of Covid though, people are being more cautious, and many are not trick-or-treating. “I am not trick or treating because people passing out candy may transport their germs to me,” says Kayla Curtin, a student at West. She has a valid point, Covid-19 can be transferred by droplets or germs on surfaces and candy wrappers are prime real estate. The CDC also classifies trick-or-treating as a high-risk activity. There are some safer ways to trick-or-treat like hiding candy for your family (low risk) or leaving out bags of candy for your neighbors (medium risk). Parties are another thing about Halloween that will be affected negatively by Covid. Some people are having parties though. “I am having a Halloween party to get in the festive spirit,” said Emerson Hauber, who is having a small outdoor get-together this year. Small outdoor parties are a moderate risk event according to the CDC as long as the people attending wear at least cloth mask, not a Halloween costume mask. Haunted houses are a staple of the traditional Halloween and this year people have been creative with how they make them. Lots of people all together in a house, screaming, with possibly maskless performers, this would defiantly be a Covid-fest. But what if it was a drive through? Many restaurants and grocery stores are doing drive throughs and curbside pick-up, why don’t we get scared that way too? A drive through haunted house is much safer than a normal haunted house. However, it will still scare you and there is little to no risk of you contracting Covid because of the haunted house (unless you roll down your windows). There are other autumn and Halloween activities such as going to a pumpkin patch, picking apples, going to outdoor Halloween movies (all medium risk), and carving pumpkins (low risk if you’re carving with your family or socially distanced). These are all good things to do too as long as you take the proper safety precautions. Even though Covid is still devastating our country, we are managing to have some fun at Halloween. We are coming up with new ways to get scared (as if Covid isn’t scary enough) and figuring out how to still see our friends and family at safe Halloween parties.
