How To Have A Fun And Safe Halloween This Year In Pima County

Press release from the Pima County Public Library :

October 20, 2020

So, COVID-19, did you know we have holidays coming up? No? Well, we do, and we all want to know how to handle the holidays with you as our unwanted, uninvited guest.

Let's start with Halloween. The traditional way to celebrate is in groups, sometimes large ones, and there is food and candy and some masks involved, but not the kinds of masks you seem to like. So what do we do? Luckily, there are nice people around the world helping us figure this out.

The good folks over at the CDC have a page dedicated to making your Halloween safer. Some highlights:

• Wash your hands before handling treats. I was SO AFRAID that they were going to say, "No treats." WHEW!
• Wear a mask, and make it part of your costume. Brilliant! I'm going as a surgeon.
• Stay at least 6 feet from others. Um, yeah, duh, they are scary! Of course, I'm going to stay 6 feet away. No, make that 20!

There's a lot more, so please read the full list.

Pima County Health Department has recommendations as well, including:

• Avoid large gatherings with people who don't live with you. Good advice, and since I want more candy for myself, that means I don't have to share, so, tick!
• Have online parties with costumes and pumpkin carving. I think this is a good idea, too, since I am very bad at both costumes and pumpkin carving. I can use a fancy background and angle my camera in a weird way to distract people. I guess I could also check out books on cosplay and up my game. Nah!
• Do a car parade. Oh, I like this. And now my costume which includes a mask has become a ghost, because in a car I can pretend I'm floating!
• Have a movie night at a drive-in. My horror-film-obsessed family will LOVE this idea. Can I sit in the back and cover my eyes? Better yet, how about if they binge watch horror movies on Kanopy, and we skip the drive-in.

Now for my recommendations.

• Buy candy.
• Make cookies.
• Carve a pumpkin.
• Find a good book.
• Sit at home and read while eating candy and cookies and admiring your jack-o-lantern.

Happy Halloween, everyone!

This press release was produced by the Pima County Public Library. The views expressed here are the author’s own.