Stay home and treat yourself on Halloween, expert advises

Ontario's chief medical officer of health is officially recommending against trick-or-treating come Halloween in the four areas of the province — Ottawa, Toronto, Peel and York Region — where higher-than-average rates of COVID-19 transmission are reported.

Instead, says Dr. David Williams, consider “alternative ways to celebrate” on Oct. 31, such as pumpkin-carving, dressing up for virtual Halloween parties, an Easter-esque candy hunt with household members, or the sharing of scary stories.

“It is also critical that families not travel outside of their neighbourhood to celebrate Halloween,” said Williams, who also recommended that Ontarians check with their local municipality or public health unit for any addition Halloween advice or restrictions.

Ottawa medical officer of health Dr. Vera Etches has already encouraged residents “to find alternatives to trick-or-treating and keep Halloween activities within the home.”

At his daily news conference, Ontario Premier Doug Ford asked protesters who show up at his house every Saturday to instead stage their actions at Queen's Park, noting that his neighbours are frustrated and their children frightened.

“You want to protest me — God bless you, I'm all for it, freedom of speech. Come down here, protest, do whatever you want. But just please leave my neighbours and their kids alone.”

Challenged multiple times on the province's trick-or-treating decision, Ford ceded no ground.

“It's not based on fear. It's not based on my cabinet. It's based on the medical advice that I get — not just from Dr. Williams, the whole team,” he said.

“I have two choices: either forget about the docs and ignore 'em, everyone just go hog wild … or we take little precautions, and we just be safe with each other.

“Don't cancel Halloween. Have fun. Do something else.”

Williams also pointed that in the first Halloween during the pandemic, “there's not a lot of track record, globally, on this matter.”

But, he added, the medical officers of health in all four hot spots are “strongly concurrent” with the province's Halloween recommendations.

More generally, Williams suggested that Ontario's efforts to “beat down the second wave” seem to be paying off. “We've taken some measures, and we're seeing some evidence of plateauing.”

He explained that the current case numbers do not reflect the projection shared at a technical briefing earlier this month that forecast daily cases numbering 1,200 to 1,400 by this point, without accounting for the restrictions the province recently applied.

However, said Williams, “We're not out of it yet.”

In the public health unit regions surrounding Ottawa, 13 more cases of COVID-19 were reported Monday in Eastern Ontario, and one each in Leeds, Grenville & Lanark, Renfrew County and District and Hastings Prince Edward.

Nationally, the total number of COVID-19 cases in Canada has passed 200,000, just over four months after Canada reached the 100,000-case threshold.

Meanwhile, restrictions on non-essential travel between Canada and the United States are being extended until at least Nov. 21, Public Safety Minister Bill Blair confirmed. Incidental travel — vacations, day trips and cross-border shopping excursions — has been forbidden since March.