Trick or Treating this year is actually being encouraged by the director of the CDC.

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky appeared in an interview with Fox News host Chris Wallace last Sunday, telling families to celebrate Halloween and other holidays amid the Covid-19 pandemic, though still urged “prevention strategies.”

“I would say put on those costumes, stay outside and enjoy your trick-or-treating,” she said.

Of course, she took time on air to address lingering concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic and variants such as Delta spreading. Although the infection rate has slowed recently, she reminded viewers that there was still potential to spread the viruses.

“I wouldn't gather in large settings outside and do screaming like you are seeing in those football games, if you are unvaccinated—those kids that are unvaccinated. But if you are spread out doing your trick-or-treating, that should be very safe for your children.“

Walensky also gave advice that, going forward, applies to other holidays, such as Christmas and Thanksgiving.

“It's critically important that we gather, that we be together with family and friends during these holidays,” she said, “and we have the prevention strategies that we know work to be safe for those holidays. So what I would say is get yourself vaccinated before you gather; it will absolutely be safer if you're vaccinated. Any activity that is outdoors is safer than it is if it's indoors. And if you are gathering multiple households, make sure as many people are vaccinated as possible so you can protect the people who are vulnerable, who might not yet be vaccinated.”

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In 2018, a trade group representing Halloween merchants uploaded a petition with an idea to alter the annual holiday by moving trick-or-treating to the Saturday before October 31. The group is called the Halloween & Costume Association. They have currently received over 150,000 signatures, and every year since the petition was created, more and more people have signed, with a spike in signatures occurring every Halloween.

The next year, the group announced that instead of changing the date of Halloween, the HCA now wanted to add an additional day of festivities in partnership with Party City and other companies by creating “National Trick or Treat Day,” or NTTD for short.

This year, they finally got their wish. The holiday was added to the National Day Calendar, although it hasn’t been officially recognized by the US government. Support for the holiday has spread rather strongly in Alabama, and one can assume that support will only grow. Halloween fell on a Sunday this year, and Alabama is a rather religious state. If NTTD became the date of trick-or-treating, that conflict would no longer occur.