How to Stay Safe This Halloween

The season for pumpkins, costumes, spooky movies, trick-or-treating and haunted houses is upon us!  Six months ago, we never thought that Halloween would be one of the holidays impacted by COVID-19, yet here we are. Nonetheless, having a fun, scary, and most importantly, a safe Halloween, is still possible! 

Haunted houses are debatably the best part of Halloween. Sadly, indoor haunted houses are not recommended, and many are not even open right now. Instead, look for outdoor haunted trails, like Field Of Screams in Olney or Markoff’s Forest in Dickerson (near Poolesville). These outdoor trails provide the perfect COVID-friendly haunted experiences during Halloween!

For more outdoor fall fun that you can have while easily maintaining social distance, head to a local pumpkin patch, wear a face covering, and choose pumpkins with your family to carve at home. 

WTOP News says, β€œMontgomery County’s health officer is urging you to call off door-to-door candy collecting in the county this year.” However, with the right safety precautions, trick-or-treating isn’t a total loss. The CDC dubbed trick-or-treating a β€œmoderate risk” activity. A few ways to safely trick-or-treat or give out candy are: wearing a mask, putting candy in individual baggies for kids to take (avoiding lots of germy little hands in a bowl), staying home if you are sick, and wearing gloves with which to pick up candy. 

If the fear of catching COVID scares you more than any Halloween monster, there are plenty of things you can do at home. If you’re wary about trick or treating, but still want your yearly candy fix, buying your own candy from the grocery store may be the safest way to go this year. Alternatively, watching a scary movie with snacks and spending quality time with your family at home is a great way to spend Halloween! My personal favorite horror movies are The Shining, The Grudge, and Us.

Though we can’t enjoy Halloween festivities in a normal capacity, these are the precautions we must take. It is important to remember that this pandemic is serious and life-threatening, and we must remain mindful and aware of the proper ways to handle the disease. Nevertheless, that doesn’t mean we can’t have fun this fall!