Almost three years have passed since the start of the pandemic. Restrictions and social distancing measures have slowly softened as vaccines have been released, and it seems COVID-19’s hold on the world is easing. Yet it has not fully disappeared, and celebrating too early could lead to spikes as they have in the past. Holiday gatherings like Halloween tend to be superspreader events, which is why they were put on hold these past couple of years. That no longer appears to be the case, prompting a debate over what and if safety precautions are still necessary or overcautious. For now, however, safety precautions are still necessary.
At the moment, evidence suggests that it is not completely safe to hold social gatherings without any kind of precautions. People have largely grown impatient and are eager to rush back into a sense of normalcy, but moving too fast could lead to disastrous consequences. The good news is that COVID-19 numbers have been steadily climbing down. And Californians are better protected now more than ever, with 84% of Californians having received at least one vaccine dose and about 74% of Californians being considered fully vaccinated. But it has been observed that numbers tend to spike upwards during the colder months and holiday season. LA County has recently recorded approximately 1,100 cases a day, a much higher rate than the 600 cases per day that occurred during the spring. Since August, LA county has recorded an average of 70 to 125 COVID-19 deaths per week. In May, there were less with 25 to 50 deaths per week.
As of now, there are no official restrictions or mask mandates that people will be required to comply with. It is still possible to be safe this Halloween while having fun. One way is to get creative and design a mask to be a part of a costume. If possible, sticking to outdoor events and avoiding indoor ones where the risk of transmission is higher can help limit transmission. At parties with food and alcohol left out in the open, guests should be mindful that multiple people have likely touched it. Halloween-goers can carry a bag with hand sanitizer in order to properly socially distance themselves. As humans are not the only transmitters of COVID-19, it is important to be careful around any animals as well.
It appears that as time continues to tick away, cognitive dissonance has appeared to take hold of society, with efforts to downplay or deny the severity of COVID-19 in order to get back to “normal” life as soon as possible. People have received vaccines and countless booster shots and impatiently waited to be told by experts that they can live their lives again. Now it appears to be widely accepted that the pandemic is basically over. But it is important to remember that rushing too soon into “normalcy” could create the same problems all over again. There is no returning exactly to the same Halloween we left behind in those twilight pre-COVID years, but instead it makes more sense to permanently adopt safer guidelines for Halloween. It is imperative to remember that vulnerable members of society do exist, and deserve to be kept safe.
