Trick-or-treating and most Halloween festivities are out this year as Los Angeles County officials released their latest guidance on upcoming fall holidays.
The guidance reiterates that gatherings and events were already banned, but even outdoor Halloween gatherings, events or parties with non-household members are not allowed. There will also be no carnivals, festivals, live entertainment and haunted house attractions.
Trick-or-treating and trunk-or-treating are also not recommended, because it’s difficult to avoid crowding and people sharing food.
Ferrer and the county guidance encouraged residents to do online parties instead, like virtual costume and pumpkin carving costumes. More ways to celebrate include car parades with decorated vehicles, drive through halloween displays and Halloween drive-in movie nights.
Health officials didn’t say what kind of enforcement measures would be in place. But Sheriff Alex Villanueva said Wednesday that his deputies will not be ticketing trick-or-treaters.
The new regulations are “an overreaction,” Dr. Jeffrey Klausner, professor of medicine and public health at University of California, Los Angeles, told the Associated Press.
“It doesn’t surprise me, but it’s disappointing that we continue to make policy recommendations that are not based on the evidence,” Klausner said Wednesday.
He said the data show that children are at very low risk of transmitting the virus to adults.
“There’s very little evidence showing that controlling infection in children has any benefit to controlling epidemic overall,” Klausner said.
Annual Halloween events such as Knott’s Scary Farm, Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights, Disneyland’s Oogie Boogie Bash and the Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor were all canceled weeks ago because of COVID-19 concerns.
The new guidance this week comes as the county continues to report a downward trend in hospitalizations and the positivity rate.
But, county health officer Barbara Ferrer noted that every time transmission rates have fallen, people get more antsy to let up and do normal activities again, thus causing more spread of the virus.
“Unfortunately what we have learned over the last seven months is that we cannot return to normal at this time,” Ferrer said. “We actually need to maintain more of our vigilance so that we can continue to suppress the spread of the virus.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.