NWHU, SLFNHA Public Health Physician, Municipality of Sioux Lookout share Halloween safety tips
Tim Brody - Editor
With Halloween right around the corner, the Northwestern Health Unit is providing tips to keep people safe as they partake in the annual tradition, which will look different this year during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr. Kit Young-Hoon, Medical Officer of Health at NWHU commented, “We want everyone to be safe for Halloween.”
She shared the following tips recently with members of the media, “Examples of things you can do would be setting up a trick or treat station outside your house, keeping a two metre distance from others, portioning out treats ahead of time to allow touchless trick or treating. Wearing a mask when giving out treats would be important. If you’re going door to door, choose a costume where you can also wear a non-medical mask. Wash your hands before and after trick or treating and bring hand sanitizer with you.”
She also suggested activities such as online costume parties or setting up a family scavenger hunt for treats as safe ways to have some Halloween fun.
Sioux Lookout First Nations Health Authority Public Health Physician Dr. John Guilfoyle also recently provided some COVID-19 safety tips during Halloween via a video on the health authority’s Facebook
page @SLFNHA.
“Make this Halloween as safe as possible and as enjoyable as possible for our little ones,” he urged.
“There are lots of Halloween activities that are enjoyable and that can be done safely,” he said, citing examples such as carving jack-o-lanterns and making and putting up Halloween decorations.
He suggested a virtual Halloween costume contest as a fun, safe activity.
He too suggested a family scavenger hunt.
When it comes to trick or treating, Guilfoyle suggested individually wrapped treats. “When you’re handing them out, it would be good not to have them in a bowl where the kids put in their hand and grab one and the next kid puts theirs in, because that’s a way one can pass COVID from one kid on to another.” He said, for example, “When you see four kids coming, you just go out and you maybe have tongs or something and you put out four treats and each kid takes one.”
“Just be careful with facemasks and a mask. If you put a mask on another mask, it may interfere with breathing, so therefore, I think you need to be very careful how you use a mask this season if you’re using a facemask as well,” he said, adding, “Obviously when we go out and we’re doing our trick-or treating, we maintain the physical distance. We maintain that six feet between our kids and other groups of kids.”
Guilfoyle stressed the importance of handwashing, “Washing your hands is important, so when you go out and do all the trick or treating, before you start tucking in to the candies, wash your hands. Make sure they’re nice and clean. Wash for that 20 seconds.”
“This is a special time of year and it’s something that our children enjoy and it is important, if we can, to let them enjoy it safely,” he concluded.
The Northwestern Health Unit has provided the following tips to be COVID-SAFE this Halloween:
If handing out treats:
• Set up a trick or treat station outside.
• Portion treats out ahead of time to allow for touchless trick or treating. Children can simply take one portion from the table to minimize contact. Avoid putting treats in a bowl that children grab themselves.
• Wear a mask and consider using tongs to hand out treats.
• Sanitize hands often and stay 2 metres from others.
• Clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces.
If going door-to-door:
• Stay home if you are feeling sick.
• Maintain 2 metres from others while trick or treating. Do not gather at doorsteps. Line up and wait if needed.
• Only trick or treat with people you live with.
• Trick or treat outdoors only.
• Choose a costume that you can wear a non-medical mask with. A costume mask does not replace a non-medical mask.
• Wash your hands before and after trick or treating. Bring hand sanitizer with you.
• Consider not touching the treats collected for 24 hours. Have some ready-to-enjoy favourites set aside for when you get home.
Other Halloween ideas:
• Have an online
costume party.
• Arrange for contactless delivery of spooky crafts or treats with friends and family.
• Set up a scavenger hunt filled with treats for your family.
• Pick out some Halloween themed books to read together.
If celebrating at school:
• Students can't share food at school. If sending food for the class, items must be pre-packaged from the store and handed out by the teacher. Choose healthy snacks.
• Students must wear a cloth face mask at school (required for grades 4-12, encouraged for K-3) rather than a Halloween mask and avoid costume add-ons such as props or toys.
• Connect classrooms virtually on smart boards for costume parades or Halloween dances. Maintain physical distance and prevention measures during Halloween activities.
If attending a Halloween event, please note that provincial gathering restrictions apply. The limit on the number of people allowed to attend an unmonitored private social gathering in Ontario is:
• 10 people indoors
• 25 people outdoors
• Indoor and outdoor gatherings cannot be merged together. Gatherings of 35 (25 outdoors and 10 indoors) are not permitted.
These limits do not apply to events or gatherings held in staffed businesses and facilities, such as bars, restaurants, cinemas, convention centres, banquet halls, gyms, places of worship, recreational sporting or performing art events.
The Municipality of Sioux Lookout has created posters people can download, print, and place on their door or window letting trick or treaters know if treats are being provided or not.
The Municipality of Sioux Lookout, on the advice and recommendations of the Northwestern Health Unit, has also created a COVID-19 information sheet with Non-Tricky Tips for a Spooktacular Safe Halloween. Those tips are:
Trick-Or-Treating
• Stay home if you are sick.
• Choose costumes that allow your child to wear a nonmedical mask. They can wear a mask underneath a Halloween mask as long as they can see and breathe comfortably. Make sure it’s comfortable so your child won’t need to adjust it.
• Go only with family or cohort members and keep 2 meters from others. Do not gather at door steps. Line up and wait if needed.
• Carry hand sanitizer and use it after touching touch-points like doorbells or railings.
• If you can, knock instead of pushing doorbells, or keep 2 meters from the door or porch and call “trick or treat”. Make sure the person calling is wearing a mask.
• Consider not touching the treats collected for 24 hours. Have some ready-to-enjoy favourites set aside for when you get home.
• Trick-or-treat outside only.
Handing out candy
• Print posters from siouxlookout.ca to hang in your window or place on your door to let trick-or-treaters know if you’re handing out treats this year or not.
• Wear a mask and use tongs or a grabber.
• Keep a healthy distance from trick-or-treaters. If possible, hand out candy from the driveway, open garage, or lawn instead of your front door.
• Ask trick-or-treaters to knock instead of ringing the doorbell.
• Avoid handling treats - Use prepackaged candy (no homemade treats) - Hand treats out directly from the package they came in - Don’t leave self-serve bowls of bulk candy - Make candy bundles/bags and space them out on a table or blanket for trick-or-treaters to take
• Get creative! Build a candy slide down your front steps or railing! Build a (safe) candy catapult! There are many fun ways to hand out treats while maintaining physical distance.
• Sanitize hands often and stay 2 meters away.
• Clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces.
If attending Halloween event
• Provincial gathering restrictions apply.
• 10 people indoors.
• 25 people outdoors.
• Indoor and outdoor gatherings cannot be
combined.