Booo! That's not the sound of a scary Halloween ghost; it's the sound of million of American kids crestfallen over the possibility of not going trick-or-treating this year.
On Monday, the Centers for Disease Control issued its first coronavirus-era guidelines on how to safely celebrate Halloween--and they discourage against going for candy door to door.
"Many traditional Halloween activities can be high-risk for spreading viruses," the CDC website states. "If you may have COVID-19 or you may have been exposed to someone with COVID-19, you should not participate in in-person Halloween festivities and should not give out candy to trick-or-treaters."
In fact, the CDC ranks "traditional trick-or-treating" among its riskiest Halloween activities alongside "attending crowded costume parties held indoors," "going to an indoor haunted house where people may be crowded together and screaming" and "going on hayrides or tractor rides with people who are not in your household."
Instead of trick-or-treating, they recommend such "lower-risk activities" as "having a virtual Halloween costume contest" and "doing a Halloween scavenger hunt."