Sudbury 2019 Halloween Trick-or-Treat Hours

SUDBURY, MA — Sudbury health officials are warning parents to end trick-or-treating early this year due to the risk of Eastern equine encephalitis, also called EEE, and West Nile virus. Trick-or-treating should end by 6 p.m. this year, the officials say.

Mosquitoes that carry EEE and West Nile are most active during dawn and dusk. On Halloween, the sun will set at about 5:42 p.m. Health officials believe the threat of mosquitoes will remain in Massachusetts until the first "hard" frost — which means several hours of temperatures at or below 28 degrees.

There have been several frosts so far this fall, but no hard frosts yet.

"Although our nights are getting colder, it is not expected that we will reach a hard freeze before Oct. 31st. The Board of Health recommends that outdoor activities, including Halloween, be completed by 6 p.m. Residents might expect to see trick or treaters a little earlier this year," the health department said in a statement on Oct. 17.

The EEE risk level in Sudbury was still "critical" as of Oct. 21, according to state officials. West Nile risk is "low," but remains. Sudbury girl Sophia Garabedian, 5, was one of more than a dozen people from Massachusetts to contract EEE in 2019. She survived the illness, which has a mortality rate of between 50 and 75 percent.

Sudbury health officials are also recommending kids and adults handing out candy brush up on food allergies.