Traditions
trick-or-treating this year: “Even though being outside decreases the risk, being in close contact with people you don’t live with increases the risk of spreading and contracting COVID-19.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also recently released guidelines, classifying “traditional trick-or-treating where treats are handed to children who go door to door” as a higher-risk activity that should be avoided this year.
‘Is there any way to keep people safe?’
When Zeno Franco and his family moved to Bay View about a decade ago, they quickly realized that they had moved into just one of those neighborhoods that do Halloween big.
“In Bay View, it’s a huge event,” said Franco. “And, even with just trick-or-treating, there can be very close contact between kids and adults and even elderly people who are high-risk.”
That’s been weighing heavily on Franco’s mind as the father of two tries to balance his children’s desire to celebrate Halloween with his awareness that traditional celebrations just aren’t safe this year — an awareness heightened by his job as an associate professor of family and community medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin who has done a lot of work on COVID-19 response over the past few months.
“I’ve been thinking a lot about Halloween, as we have potentially thousands of kids going trick-ortreating throughout the community,” said Franco. “Are we going to be able to manage being socially distant? Is there any way to keep people safe?”
Franco got out in front of the situation a few weeks ago, when he posted to the Bay View neighborhood Facebook page, soliciting his neighbors’ thoughts about the safety of trick-or-treat and asking for suggestions about safer alternatives. Franco then turned the comments from his post into a poll.
Franco was encouraged that most parents are taking the threat of the virus seriously, with the largest number of respondents saying they prefer to forgo trick-or-treating entirely, instead focusing on overthe-top yard decorations and giving candy to just their own kids this year.
For the parents who want to continue trick-ortreating, there were several creative suggestions to encourage social distancing, including throwing candy from the sidewalk to kids as they stand in their own yards and building candy slides to hand out candy from farther away.
At the same time, Franco is concerned about some of the poll results.
“There were some good indicators that there’s a lot of thought going into how to do things safely, which is a good sign,” said Franco. “On the other hand, the second most popular option is to just do trick-or-treat normally like we do every year. There is that split in terms of how seriously people take this virus.”
Waiting for the city’s decision
Although some southeast Wisconsin communities have started announcing their trick-or-treat times, many of those announcements come with safety precautions. Mayor Tom Barrett said he’s working with the health department before announcing Milwaukee’s trick-or-treat plan.
“People will do some sort of trick-or-treating no matter what. I just went to Target yesterday and there’s a ton of candy,” said Franco. “It could be that without some health guidance and suggestions for alternatives, we end up with what usually happens during trick-or-treat, and that’s really scary.”
The Department of Health Services’ guidance includes a suggestion that if cities still allow trick-ortreating, people can place individual treat bags on their lawns or porches and wave to trick-or-treaters from inside their houses. The CDC’s guidance classifies leaving treat bags lined up at the end of a driveway as a moderate-risk activity.
Chastain isn’t sure what the Milwaukee health department will say, but she’s planning precautions for trick-or-treat now.
“We can’t enforce everyone wearing masks, but we’re going to highly recommend it,” Chastain said. “We’re also going to ask that people handing out candy wear gloves and that they hand it out in their yard, not at their front door.”
Keeping things in perspective
Even if trick-or-treat happens in Bay View, Franco doesn’t plan to give out candy this year. Instead, he and his wife are saving the money they would use for the more than 3,000 pieces of candy they usually hand out. They’re spending that money on outside decorations instead. He has pirate flags and replica cannons, and he’s even hoping to get his neighbor involved by flying a surrender flag in his yard.
“I’m trying to send the message that this year it’s OK to err on the side of safety and still find a way to have fun,” said Franco. “I don’t want our block to become a transmission point.”
Chastain agrees, and although she’s sad the event she’s planned for the past several years has to change this year, she’s keeping things in perspective.
“I’m disappointed like everyone else,” Chastain said. “But I’m telling everyone this isn’t permanent.
Hopefully, next Halloween, the event will happen again and we can think, ‘wow, 2020 was crazy, wasn’t it?’ ”
Contact Amy Schwabe at (262) 875-9488 or amy.schwabe@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @WisFamilyJS, Instagram at @wisfamilyjs or Facebook at WisconsinFamily.