Trick or treating is fine, but no big Halloween parties: CDC warns against complacency as Covid numbers fall

The director of the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said Trick or Treating was ok this year, despite the still lingering coronavirus, but said Americans should still avoid crowded indoor Halloween parties.

Dr Rochelle Walensky appeared on Fox News Sunday to discuss the ongoing pandemic as well as the upcoming holiday weekend.

She said that even though children who are of Trick-or-Treating age will likely be unvaccinated, they would be safe going house to house, since the majority of their activities would occur outdoors.

But, she added, because children are largely unvaccinated, they should not be taken to large indoor gatherings like parties. Unvaccinated adults should also be wary about large gatherings and maintain social distance and masking guidelines.

“I wouldn't gather in large settings outside and do screaming like you are seeing in those football games, if you are unvaccinated, those kids that are unvaccinated, but if you are spread out doing your trick-or-treating, that should be very safe for your children,“ Dr Walensky said.

She noted that holidays were important and encouraged people to gather, but to do so safely and with pandemic mitigation in mind, especially vaccination.

“It's critically important that we gather, that we be together with family and friends during these holidays and we have the prevention strategies that we know work to be safe for those holidays. So what I would say is get yourself vaccinated before you gather; it will absolutely be safer if you're vaccinated,” she said.

“Any activity that is outdoors is safer than it is if it's indoors. And if you are gathering multiple households, make sure as many people are vaccinated as possible so you can protect the people who are vulnerable, who might not yet be vaccinated.”

The CDC director also noted that overall coronavirus cases were dropping after a summer spike caused by the Delta variant of the virus.

“So I think the numbers actually speak for themselves. You're absolutely right cases are down, they're down more than 50 percent from where they were in September, but we can't get complacent yet,” Dr Walensky said.

Despite the numbers decreasing, she noted that the US is still seeing more than 70,000 Covid-19 cases daily. She urged Americans to be cautious to avoid another spike as the colder months of autumn arrive.

“Well I'm encouraged by numbers coming down right now, but I have learned that we can't be complacent and that we need to be humble and that the virus tends to find places that are under vaccinated,” the director said. “So as our case numbers come down, we need to continue to do the hard work of getting more and more people vaccinated to prevent exactly what you described.”