COLUMBUS – With Hallowe’en a little over six weeks away, the state is providing guidelines for holiday activities like trick-or-treating and haunted houses.
UPDATE 9/18/20 5:13 p.m.:
The guidelines provided by the Ohio Department of Health on Friday discourage traditional trick-or-treating and strongly recommend that haunted houses and hayrides be canceled.
The guidelines recommend trick-or-treating alternatives such as drive-through events with children in cars collecting treats from individuals spaced at least six feet apart.
The guidelines also suggest decorating houses and hiding treats outside.
The Health Department also says large in-person parties shouldn’t be held.
“It is strongly recommended that Ohioans exercise caution when deciding to participate in trick-or-treating and events that put them in close contact with people outside their households,” said the recommendations from interim Health Director Lance Himes.
See the recommendations from the Ohio Department of Health
Governor Mike DeWine said Thursday that decisions on whether to allow trick-or-treating or other events should be made at the community and family level, as they traditionally have been.
“So, that will not change. The local community will make the determination, if there’s a Beggar’s Night, when that Beggar’s Night is,” he said during his regular Thursday coronavirus briefing.
Some in Ohio have already canceled trick-or-treating this year, while other municipalities are waiting to make decisions closer to the end of October.
Five additional counties, including Delaware and Pickaway counties in central Ohio, meet the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s definition of high incidence and have been elevated to Level 2 on the state’s four-tiered Public Health Advisory System. Athens, Greene and Harrison counties were also upgraded to the “orange” level.
Franklin County remained at Level 2 but, with an incidence rate of 153.1 cases per 100,000 residents over the past few weeks, is still under close scrutiny.
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The state Friday reported 1,011 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19, below the 21-day average of 1,070,
for a total of 142,596 with 4,608 deaths and 17,130 active cases, 185 fewer that Thursday
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DeWine announced the state has launched two new data dashboards displaying the spread of COVID-19 in the state’s schools and among its children.
The Schools Dashboard will show new and cumulative COVID cases among students and staff reported to schools. The data can be sorted by county or school district and includes students and staff.
Schools are required to report cases to their local health departments, which then report to the Ohio Department of Health.
The Children’s Dashboard, developed in consultation with the Ohio Children’s Hospital Association, includes information about cases and hospitalizations related to COVID-19 among children aged 0-17
House Minority Leader Emilia Strong Sykes (D-Akron) criticized DeWine’s actions, saying that with Black children making up a disproportionate number of COVID-19 hospitalizations in the state, DeWine’s Minority Health Strike Force, formed five months ago, has yet to address the problem of health disparity.