While Canada's top public doctor says there's no need to cancel trick or treating, Windsor's medical officer of health says there are safer options.
Canada's Chief Public Health Officer Theresa Tam said in a news conference Tuesday that trick or treating outside while taking precautions like wearing a mask and physical distancing can be a safe activity to provide children with a sense of normalcy this time of year. But Windsor-Essex Medical Officer of Health Dr. Wajid Ahmed said it may be difficult to set safety parameters.
"If that can be contained in a way where the congregation is not happening, where the candies are distributed in a safer manner, and where the children are doing physical distancing, but again all of those things are fairly difficult to manage," said Dr. Ahmed.
He suggests there may be some safer options to celebrate the holiday.
"Kids can have their own Halloween party on Zoom or any virtual network and they can still dress up the way they want," said Dr. Ahmed. "Parents can do a lot of the activities with their kids by themselves dressing up or maybe doing some kind of a candy hunt."
The Windsor Essex County Health Unit will release its official guidelines for Halloween late this week or early next week. But Dr. Ahmed said there are some activities that should definitely be avoided.
"Our recommendation would be to avoid any kind of party, any opportunities where people can come in close contact with each other or gather in large numbers, we would definitely discourage that," said Dr. Ahmed.
On Wednesday, only two new cases of COVID-19 were identified in the region. One was a close contact of a confirmed case and the other is still under investigation. There are now 64 active cases in the community with one person in the hospital.
Two workplaces are experiencing an outbreak of COVID-19. An outbreak at a construction site in Lakeshore was declared Wednesday morning. The outbreak at the agricultural facility in Kingsville is ongoing.