One Oceanside resident is trying to make the most of Halloween for her community this year with COVID-19 restrictions in place.
Destiny Santana started making and selling face masks at the beginning of the pandemic.
Now, she crafts and sells candy chutes made out of PVC pipe for socially distanced trick or treating. The candy chutes are positioned on uneven posts to create a slope for the candy to slide down. They are six feet long to abide by CDC guidelines.
“I understand, like ‘hey let's keep 6 feet’ but I still want to give out candy, I'm not going to stop Halloween,” Santana said. “Nobody wants to stop it.”
The Health and Services Agency for the County of San Diego posted Halloween guidelines that say in-person, non-household gatherings and live entertainment are still prohibited under the county Public Health Order. Carnivals, festivals, and petting zoos are also banned this year.
While the county doesn’t recommend door-to-door trick-or-treating or haunted houses, Tom Bussey of the Oceanside Police Department said the police won’t be handing out tickets for those activities.
“On our end, most of it would be just advisement only. The CDC is in charge of doing any kind of enforcement types of things, like with businesses and stuff,” Bussey said. “We’re suggesting if you want to do something for Halloween, have your own in-home parties with your own family, not with social gatherings.”
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Activities recommended by the county for this year’s Halloween include: Online parties and contests, drive-through events, Halloween movie nights and pumpkin patches that are following COVID-19 safety guidelines.
“I think a lot of people are going to be scared. They may not even give out candy or anything,” Santana said. “So I think it's going to be bigger people staying at home, families staying at home: playing games at home, watching movies or playing things outside.”
More recommended events and activities for the holiday can be found at kpbs.org/events/halloween.
According to the county health department, San Diegans need to keep following proper COVID-19 guidelines as a rise in case rates could push the county back into the state’s most restrictive purple tier.
