ACT Health are reminding the community to take necessary precautions this Halloween to ensure it is COVID-Safe.
With no new cases recorded in the ACT in the past 24 hours, the territory’s total remains 114, with one active case.
ACT Health said while there are no specific restrictions for trick-or-treating this Halloween, the ongoing advice for physical distancing and personal hygiene remains for the safety of families, friends, colleagues, and the wider community.
If you choose to participate in trick or treating this year, ACT Health recommends the following:
- Take personal responsibility for your own – and your children’s – safety.
- Don’t go trick-or-treating if you are feeling unwell.
- Go trick-or-treating with people you know.
- If a particular house looks busy, move onto the next house, or come back later.
- Remember physical distancing – keep at least 1.5 metres away from other trick-or-treating groups and from people who are not known to you.
- Remember your COVID hand and respiratory hygiene.
- Sanitise your hands after touching door knockers or other high-touch surfaces.
- Keep the handling of treats to a minimum and consider individually wrapped treat bags or tongs to hand out treats.
For those who don’t feel comfortable being door knocked, if your neighbourhood doesn’t already have a system for letting trick or treaters know if you want to be part of Halloween, please put a friendly notice on your front door asking trick-or-treaters not to knock.
Alternatives to Trick-or-Treating
For people who don’t feel comfortable door knocking but still want to participate in Halloween with their family or friends, consider alternative activities:
- Gather a small group of friends together and set up decorated stalls in a backyard so children can visit each stall to ‘trick-or-treat’.
- Plan an ‘Easter egg-style’ Halloween hunt for treats in a specific location.
- Decorate your house, apartment or living space to turn it into a haunted house – cobwebs out of cotton balls, hair spray and string, and make spiders out of egg containers and pipe cleaners.
- Organise a visual scavenger hunt with a list of Halloween-themed items to spot at decorated houses, at a distance.
- Host a Halloween-themed movie night with a small group of close friends or family
- Host a costume parade/competition in your backyard with a small group of close friends or family.
- Play games or organise other activities such as pumpkin carving or touching mystery objects in a container, like cold spaghetti and jelly, while blindfolded and in a COVID Safe way. This means thoroughly washing your hands before and after participating or each person using their own separate containers.
