The holidays are coming up on the calendar, and we plan on celebrating as best we can despite the special circumstances that we find ourselves in. However, the ways we interact with our family and friends may look a lot different this year. Like many of the major holidays since the pandemic began, our Halloween festivities are going to be much smaller, and our masks are not just a part of our costume. Keeping our gatherings healthy and safe is one way we are putting our community first.
As COVID-19 continues to impact our area, local leaders and health professionals are helping us make decisions about how we should and should not trick or treat. Miami-Dade County officials are due to make decisions about Halloween soon, while Miami Beach has let the public know that the city will not be issuing any special permits for Halloween parties this year.
Safer Halloween Options
The Halloween experts at Hershey’s created a guide to help us celebrate safely in our neighborhoods on October 31st. Using the Harvard Global Health Institute’s COVID-19 risk levels dashboard map, the candy company is displaying which counties in the US may be safer to trick or treat by labeling them with specific colors. Green signifies the lowest risk on the map, then risk grows from yellow to orange to red, which represents the highest risk.
Miami-Dade County is a code orange as of October 11th, according to the Harvard map. While we are not in the green, we can still celebrate safely with some new creative ideas from Hershey’s:
- Trick or Treat in Reverse: Get all dressed up in your costumes and hang out with your children in the driveway or front yard. Let neighbors walk or drive by to deliver candy.
- Trick or Treat Drive-By: Visit friends and family in costume and deliver treats from the comfort of your car. (Like our Zombie Park Trunk or Treat Drive-Thru we mentioned above.)
- Costume Week: Get dressed up every day of the week and show off your costume while running errands, walking the dog, or on a Zoom meeting.
- Neighborhood Candy Hunt: Collude with your neighbors on a treasure hunt for strategically placed sweets. Create rules so social distancing stays in place.
Annual Halloween Event in the Village of Pinecrest
Each year, we are proud to sponsor and participate in the Village of Pinecrest’s annual Track or Treat Halloween event. This year, our event is going to look a little different, but it is still taking place.
We invite you to join us on Friday, October 30th at 5 p.m. at the Pinecrest Community Center for the Zombie Park Trunk or Treat Drive-Thru, a family-friendly Halloween experience. Put on your costume, deck out your car, and help us transport our stockpiles of candy! Learn more about the event here.
Avoid Risky Plans
To keep everyone in our community safe, it is our responsibility to follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines regarding the coronavirus. Along with those guidelines, the CDC recommends avoiding high-risk Halloween activities including:
- Traditional trick-or-treating where children walk door to door
- Crowded indoor costume parties
- Attending indoor haunted houses where people may be packed together and screaming
- Hayrides or tractor rides with people who are not in your household
- Using alcohol or drugs, which can cloud judgment and increase risky behaviors
- Traveling to a rural fall festival that is not in your community if you live in an area with a community spread of COVID-19
Please also remember that while there may be fewer trick-or-treaters on the sidewalks than in previous years, they will still be out there. Be extra cautious when driving on Halloween, drive slowly, and to be on the lookout for pedestrians.
We wish everyone a safe, spooky, and happy Halloween. If you would like more information on the Pinecrest event or have other questions about safety and/or accidents, please contact us at (305) 662-6178
Sources:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Coronavirus (COVID-19) Guide. Retrieved from: https://cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/index.html
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Holiday Celebrations Guide. Retrieved from: https://cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/holidays.html
H. Cohen (2020, September 18). Is your county safe for trick-or-treating during COVID-19? New Harvard map can tell you. Retrieved from:
https://miamiherald.com/news/coronavirus/article245808845.html
