'Consider creating a new tradition': public health offers advice for Halloween

WELLINGTON COUNTY - Public health isn’t cancelling Halloween, but it is urging extreme caution during these scary COVID times.

“I am expecting/hoping that the province will also provide input into Halloween,” stated Dr. Nicola Mercer, Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health’s medical officer of health.

Yet Mercer is offering the following advice to prospective Halloween party-goers and trick-or-treaters:

• no Halloween parties or gatherings this year, as they are “high-risk” activities;
• celebrate Halloween with your immediate household;
• if wearing a costume to school, incorporate a mask into the costume;
• instead of trick-or-treating, "consider creating a new tradition" similar to an Easter egg hunt;
• if you do go trick-or-treating, do so only with children from your own household; and
• if you are distributing candy, consider putting out individual bags that children can take, rather than personally handing it out.