US health authorities warn about Halloween celebrations amid coronavirus pandemic

The coronavirus has put a new scare into Halloween celebrations in the United States.

As millions of U.S. children pick out their costumes and gear up for the annual candy-fueled fright-fest, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is warning parents not to let their little Harry Potters and Wonder Women take part in “traditional trick-or-treating where treats are handed to children who go door-to-door.”

“Attending crowded costume parties held indoors” and “going to an indoor haunted house where people may be crowded together and screaming” are also on the CDC’s list of high-risk activities as millions of children gear up for Halloween on Oct. 31.

Instead, the government agency is encouraging parents to stay home with the kids and carve pumpkins or hold a “virtual Halloween costume contest.”

In some places, they may not have an alternative.

For example, there will also be no trick-or-treating this year in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Read more via NBC News/CDC