What Montco Says About Celebrating Halloween During Coronavirus

NORRISTOWN, PA — With coronavirus levels steadying but still persistent in Montgomery County as the nation awaits a vaccine, Halloween 2020 was always going to look a little different.

Officials in the county have rolled out their guidance for spooky season, based on their review of the CDC's guidance for holiday celebrations. Notably, there is nothing prohibiting trick or treating, though there are numerous recommendations to make the experience safer and to help stop the spread of the virus.

The following guidelines were issued for trick or treat participants:

• Limit contact with commonly touched surfaces
• Do not grab candy from a bowl; leave individually wrapped bags of candy or treats
• Create one-way trick or treating routes, with groups arriving to a home from one direction and leaving from another
• Limit group sizes to household contacts
• Maintain six feet between all groups
• Wear masks

For trunk or treats, guidance calls for cars to park cars 15 feet apart, and to designate an adult to hand out candy and another to monitor crowd size. Hand sanitizer should be available.
Any large events, including trunk or treats, parades, haunted houses, and costume parties must follow guidance for indoor and outdoor gatherings set out by the county health department. These limit outdoor gatherings to 250 individuals. Organizers should submit their health and safety plans for these events to montcohalloween@montcopa.org.

The county also issued a number of alternative ideas to safely celebrate Halloween, including a "candy graveyard" for children to enter one by one, "candy chutes" for contactless pickup, and more. Check out some of the county's ideas:

Full county guidance for Halloween is available online.