Door-to-door trick-or-treating will happen in New Brunswick this year in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The province’s health department says the Halloween tradition will be permitted, although not everyone is allowed to take part.
The guidelines issued on Friday say anyone with medical conditions such as heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and cancer should avoid participating in Halloween activities.
“You have to use common sense. If the numbers start increasing, maybe we have to reevaluate if we’re taking our child out,” said Mila Daley, a resident of New Maryland, N.B.
Children that do go out may find that the treats are different this year. New Brunswick Public Health suggests people should consider offering non-food treats such as stickers, small toys or books.
“I’m not sure the kids would be all that excited. We talked about just putting a bowl of candy or whatever out on the step and let people help themselves as they came by,” said Debbie Pitt, a resident of Beaver Dam, N.B.
That would be legally allowed, but the province says children should not take candy from a bowl of treats unless the treats are arranged so that children won’t come in contact with other treats when they grab theirs.
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Indoor and outdoor Halloween celebrations are permitted with a maximum of 50 people but New Brunswickers are advised to keep a list of guests in case contact tracing is needed.
“Let them be kids for a little bit, it’s already been a really scary time for them, I think they got the brunt of it. They are used to social interaction on a regular basis,” said Olivia Steeves, another resident of Beaver Dam, N.B.
Jennifer Russell, New Brunswick’s chief medical officer of health, advises limiting trick-or-treating to one neighbourhood and keeping track of where you go on the recently adopted COVID Alert app.
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