In March, the world was faced with a global pandemic, which has changed our lives drastically. With Halloween coming up next week, we were wondering how the popular holiday will be affected. I recently sent out a form that has gathered data to see how these two grades will be celebrating the holiday in quarantine.
As of 10/25, governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s social distancing guidelines reflect dramatic recent increases in COVID-19 cases, and even stricter guidelines may be put into effect after Thursday 10/22 saw 662 new cases and 3 new deaths, far above the previous state-wide case average of 233.

One popular Halloween event that has been in conversation is Trick or Treating. After looking at the data, it looks like on average 88% of people are going to skip the popular event this year, compared to the 12% who are going to attempt socially distanced Trick or Treating in their neighborhood. That means that in a group of ten people, roughly nine would skip Trick or Treating, which is a severe increase in people who would skip the popular event.

Another question asked whether the students’ families were going to hand out candy to others. Again we saw that the majority of students (57%) are not going to hand out candy. 18% of the respondents were undecided and didn’t know what they are going to do for Halloween. The remaining one-fourth of the students plan to hand out candy, though in creative ways whilst maintaining social distancing. Some will leave a bowl of candy outside their door, in a “first come first serve” style. Others will put candy in bags, then deliver them in separate mailboxes. There was even the unique idea of attaching a PVC pipe to a window, then using that to send candy down it to the person waiting at the bottom.

Despite the fact that we are dealing with the Covid-19 virus, the sixth and seventh graders are looking forward to the upcoming Halloween Holiday.