Scary times

Trick-or-treat with covid-19 precautions in mind

It should be an evening of some tricks, some treats and maybe even some characters who would scare anyone who ran across them on a darkened neighborhood street.

But before we get to election night, let’s consider Halloween.

Our rain- soaked week here in Northwest Arkansas has graciously come to an end, giving us all a chance to emerge from our precipitation-induced indoor isolation. The predicted lack of constant dampness should give us all a chance to get outdoors. Today’s supposed to be mostly sunny with a high in the low 60s. A bit windy, so any trick-or-treaters wandering the streets may find themselves enveloped in an attack of the killer leaves.

For adults, there’s the Razorback game this evening, when the Hogs try to notch another victory as they continue a season that’s brought fans new hope for the future. Because of covid-19 precautions, Texas A&M’s famed 12th man is a quarter of his former self.

But for kids, the big event of the weekend is Halloween. The challenge, of course, is how to go about it in a safe fashion. It will probably be harder for costumed children to find households willing to participate in the annual candy giveaway, but clearly some homeowners or tenants plan to join in the fun. We’ve heard some who plan to just leave bowls full of candy outside, a sort of self-service program. Good luck with that! It’s been a while, but memories of self-restraint as a feature of Halloween are, well, let’s just say we’re having trouble conjuring those up. Once upon a time when other activities demanded our time, we tried the bowl-on-the-porch method. One of our trick-or-treaters, apparently disappointed all the ghouls who preceded him had taken all the candy, just took the bowl. Naturally, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, have a few recommendations, wearing a mask being primary among them. Perhaps any other time in a pandemic there would be no need to explain this, but the CDC isn’t talking about Halloween masks. They’re no substitute at all for the kinds of noseand mouth-covering masks we’ve all begrudgingly made a part of our daily lives.

The CDC also suggests avoiding direct contact with trick-or-treaters by giving away treats outdoors, setting up a station with individually bagged treats kids can take. Supervise from a distance. Parents and those giving away candy need to ensure groups of unrelated kids don’t crowd together as they seek out their bounties of candy.

And certainly important during festivities involving food/snacks/candy: Don’t casually eat in the process of trick-or-treating. That involves a lot of hand-to-mouth action that increases one’s chances of becoming infected.

Perhaps intermittently through the night a little hand sanitizer is called for and, of course, washing hands with soap and warm water at home once the night’s festivities are done.

Unlike some activities during our covid-19 experience, Halloween doesn’t have to be scary. But there’s also some wisdom in skipping the door-to-door in favor of some other experience, if the little ghouls and goblins can stand it. That may depend on just how creative a parent wants to get in finding a substitute.

But we get it: Free candy and costumes are pretty hard to pass up.