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EDITORIAL: Think about staying home this Halloween

Like everything in 2020, it has to be different
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Decorate, dress up and eat candy. But consider staying home. Black Press photo

As we edge closer to the big day, the question is being asked more often: “Is Halloween cancelled this year?”

And that has to incur a smile. Even COVID-19 can’t cancel Halloween. It’s on the calendar for crying out loud.

That said, like everything in 2020, it has to be different.

The province’s Centre for Disease Control has issued guidelines for celebrating a safe Halloween.

But first, the best thing parents can do for their children, themselves and their neighbours is to just stay home.

Dress up, hide mini chocolate bars around the house and have a Halloween Hunt, watch age-appropriate horror movies.

If handled with sensitivity, your little ghouls may be spared the potentially life-altering trauma of not being able to trick or treat, one year.

If that idea is just too plain scary, it is important to listen to the CDC.

Trick-or-treaters should wear non-medical masks, but not place a costume mask over top.

They should stay in one neighbourhood, and not travel across communities.

Before and after eating a Halloween treat, children should wash and sanitize their hands.

For those who enjoy handing out candy, precautions are also necessary.

Non-medical masks are also recommended, and there should be no shared candy bowls.

Treats need to be distributed from a tray, using tongs, and if at all possible outside.

It’s hard to imagine any of the above being enjoyable. Tongs? Non-Halloween masks, jugs of hand sanitizer?

Talk about potentially traumatizing a child.

It’s worth remembering that Halloween traditions have their origins in the human need to honour the dead.

Nearly 10,000 Canadians have died from COVID-19 so far.

There will be another Halloween, next year.

It’s on the calendar for crying out loud.

Think about staying home in 2020.

Related: Wash your hands, not your candy: UBC offers COVID-safe tips for Halloween trick-or-treating

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andrea.demeer@similkameenspotlight.com

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