So is it safe for kids to go trick-or-treating this Halloween or not?
You can’t blame parents for being confused, given the wishy-washy messages they have heard from some officials. Public health officers in Los Angeles County earlier this month issued an order banning trick or treating in California’s largest county. But after the county’s sheriff announced that his deputies would not enforce the order, the county backtracked and declared that trick-or-treating was simply “not recommended” instead.
Give me a break.
There should be no question about trick-or-treating this Halloween, because this pandemic should have been contained months ago. But too many officials across the nation and around the world failed to provide the leadership the public needed. “Recommendations” don’t cut it. People need clear information about this virus and what they need to do to stop its spread. Then they need support from their communities to make that happen.
If trick-or-treating is not safe in its traditional form, then either it needs to be banned until this pandemic ends or parents need to be told exactly what their children need to do differently to trick-or-treat safely. No one should allow their local officials to weasel out of that responsibility with a weak declaration that this holiday tradition is now “not recommended.”
And this needs to happen on a national level. COVID-19 is not a local problem; it’s a global one. Fighting it with different rules for different communities condemns us all to play a so-far endless game of Whac-A-Mole, focusing on local outbreaks instead of containing this disease from coast to coast.
If you want a model for how to tell the public what to do in this pandemic, I would suggest looking at Walt Disney World. Disney has offered clear and consistent messaging not just on the need to wear masks but also on what type of mask to wear. (Forget those neck gaiters and bandanas.) Disney closed the “sip and stroll” loophole that too many people have used at restaurants and elsewhere in public to get out of mask requirements. And it has enforced its mask rules, denying entry to and excluding visitors who do not comply.
If only we could get that type of messaging from Washington.
As good as Disney has been at communicating, no company should be setting policy for the nation, of course. Disney would love for more people to travel to Walt Disney World in Orlando and an open Disneyland in Anaheim. But health professionals and data scientists ought to be making decisions about travel and attraction restrictions, not the companies that might profit from those restrictions being lifted.
Individuals won’t end this pandemic. Cities, counties and states can’t stop it. Only everyone working together, with the same goal and by the same rules, can do that. And that demands better, stronger national leadership — not more weak recommendations.
People at theme parks and elsewhere need COVID rules, not recommendations posted first on https://anaheimsignsorangecounty.blogspot.com
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