St. Louis to allow trick-or-treating, but with precautions

ST. LOUIS -- St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson announced Thursday that trick-or-treating will still be allowed on Halloween this year, but city health officials are advising precautions to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

St. Louis Health Department director Dr. Frederick Echols said social distancing and face-mask requirements will be in effect on Halloween.

He recommended socially-distanced trunk-or-treat events with pre-packaged goodie bags instead of a communal candy bowl with individual candies, which he said could spread the virus.

Echols said costume face masks count but another face covering should be used if the wearer gets hot and takes off the costume mask. He said the city is not recommending haunted houses and asked owners to send safety plans to the city to make sure they're effective.

"COVID-19 has been really stressful for us all, so this can be a break to really take a breather from the stress of the pandemic," Echols said. "But we have to do so safely."

Meanwhile, Jefferson County health officials have been overwhelmed with a rise in recent coronavirus cases in the rural and suburban area south of St. Louis, and hospital leaders warn it could get worse if residents don't follow public health recommendations.

Kelley Vollmar, director of the Jefferson County Health Department, said the agency is stretched thin trying to track down everyone who has been in contact with an infected person, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

She told the newspaper residents sick with coronavirus typically were around three or four other people back when the county had a stay-at-home order in place. She said an infected person now might have been around as many as 20 people, which is putting a strain on contact tracers at the department.

Mercy Hospital Jefferson chief medical officer Dr. Karthik Iyer said the Festus hospital hasn't been overwhelmed, but he's concerned at the pace of the rise in coronavirus cases.

The county reported 64 new coronavirus cases on average each day for the past week, according to state health department data. That's almost double the daily new cases reported in the more populous City of St. Louis.

"It's going to be a very tough winter ahead," Iyer said.

Missouri has reported 127,912 confirmed cases since the virus first hit the state, including 1,799 new cases Thursday, according to state health department. Roughly 1,347 new cases have been reported each day on overage over the past week.

The state also reported 10 new deaths, bringing the total to 2,128.