Noticiero Movil

Young boy with skeleton face paint and dressed in a native costumeDay of the Dead festivities in 2019 outside of Reno Little Theater. Credit: Ty O'Neil

Guidelines for celebrating Halloween and El Día de los Muertos in the high-risk COVID-19 red zone

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Both Halloween and El Día de los Muertos are enjoyed within the loving company of families and friends. Both holidays bring with them community gatherings, food and drink sharing, cheering, shouting, singing and more. 

These are precisely the activities that worry health officials. COVID-19 spreads quickly among such gatherings, especially when people are enjoying each other’s company and prone to forgetting that the world is in the middle of a pandemic, potentially worse than the 1918 flu pandemic.

So how can Nevadans safely celebrate these days when, according to Gov. Steve Sisolak in a Tuesday press conference, the state is again in the high-risk red zone for COVID-19?

Washoe County is still allowing celebrations as long as they are done safely. The Nevada Health Response team has released a set of guidelines which helps people enjoy and celebrate while being safe.  

Halloween masks don’t provide adequate protection against COVID-19. Photo: Tabitha Mueller.

General guidelines for Halloween

Trick-or-Treating 

Door-to-door trick or treating, the fun activity that involves an adult opening the door and leaning over a kid to give them candy, may cause a close contact situation. According to the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services, the activity has the potential of spreading COVID-19. So, they are asking adults to get innovative with trick or treating. 

For example, one can:

Read the entire article at This Is Reno shared as part of our collaboration to distribute more bilingual news. This story was originally published on October 21 and was written by Sudhiti Naskar.