Addison Conwell, 7, left, and Francesca Bloomer, 7, both of Madison, attend a Trunk-or-Treat event Tuesday. Participants handed out treats from the back of their vehicles in the parking lot at St. Maria Goretti Catholic School.
Beckett May, 4, of Madison, makes his way around the parking lot during Tuesday’s Trunk-or-Treat event at St. Maria Goretti Catholic School.
David Wahlberg | Wisconsin State Journal
Health officials are offering more lenient advice for this Sunday’s annual Halloween festivities, saying trick-or-treating outdoors is fine while recommending face masks and distancing.
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“I would say, ‘Put on those costumes, stay outside and enjoy your trick-or-treating,’” Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said on “Fox News Sunday.”
Walensky said she “wouldn’t gather in large settings outside and do screaming like you are seeing in those football games, if you are unvaccinated — those kids that are unvaccinated.” But, “if you are spread out doing your trick-or-treating, that should be very safe for your children,” she said.
Last year, Wisconsin and most states were seeing a significant surge in COVID-19 activity in late October, nearly two months before vaccines became available to high-priority groups. The state Department of Health Services recommended against going house-to-house or having in-person contact on Halloween.
This year, the delta variant wave of the coronavirus appears to be receding after peaking in the state more than a month ago. Activity is still considered very high, but the daily average of new cases as of Tuesday was 1,865, less than half the level from a year ago. COVID-19 hospitalizations are lower than a year ago and declining, though still relatively high.