Is Halloween 2020 Canceled? Find Out What The Experts Are Saying About Trick-Or-Treating

On September 9th,  the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health made headlines after announcing a ban on basically all Halloween activities in 2020. They banned “door-to-door or car-to-car trick-or-treating for Halloween, along with Halloween parties, carnivals and haunted houses.”

This caused a lot of uproar online and started a heated debate. Can a city truly ban trick-or-treating? And what would happen if someone was caught trick-or-treating? Would they be arrested? Pay a fine?

Well, just one day after making the announcement, the county walked back on the statement and said they instead “strongly advise against” trick-or-treating. As for large parties and events? Those are still banned. The official details can be found here.  

But what about other areas of the country? Areas that don’t have a population of over 10 million? Well, the answers are complicated. Health experts are urging caution during the Halloween season. Nearly all experts agree that large events should be canceled, but when it comes to trick-or-treating? Well, the reactions are mixed.

Some say that it can be done in a safe manner, as long as people are giving each other distance. One kid at a time going to the door, staying six feet away from other groups while walking on the sidewalk, making sure you wear a mask, and even disinfecting your candy haul before you dig in.

But if you have a kid, you know how difficult it’ll be to keep them away from the candy stash until you have a chance to douse it in bleach. This is why Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, a professor of pediatric infectious diseases and health research and policy at Stanford Health Care, is urging parents to get creative with their Halloween celebrations.

“It's very hard for me to figure out how you're going to do the normal trick-or-treating, the normal Halloween Now, that said ... people can be creative It's going to be tough, but there are creative ways to do it as long as you can stay within those parameters of distancing and masking hygiene.”

And while a number of Halloween events have been canceled, including big events like Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios, several companies are getting creative. In big cities across America, special “drive-through” events have started to pop up. Similar to driving through a Christmas light park, you’ll get to experience ~Halloween~ from your car.

One thing is for sure, Halloween is going to look a lot different this year, but that doesn’t mean it needs to be canceled. There are still plenty of ways to celebrate. Heck, buy your own candy and have a movie night with your family. Maybe have your kids invite one or two friends over (if they’re already going to school together) and have Halloween activities and games to play.

The celebrations don’t have to end because of COVID-19, they just need to be tweaked a little.

And hopefully by this time next year, things will be back to normal, ‘cause we all know parents look forward to the trick-or-treat haul just as much as the kids. BRING ME SOME REESE’S PEANUT BUTTER CUPS ASAP!