CDC director on kids trick-or-treating: ‘If you’re able to be outdoors, absolutely’

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky said that children should be able to trick-or-treat safely this year amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“If you’re able to be outdoors, absolutely,” Walensky said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” regarding trick-or-treaters heading out at the end of October.

Should kids go trick-or-treating this Halloween? @CDCDirector Dr. Walensky: “If you’re able to be outdoors, absolutely.” pic.twitter.com/F1Iw85vSdq

— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) September 26, 2021

Despite the affirmation that outdoor trick-or-treating should be safe, Walensky warned that people should continue to “limit crowds” on the holiday. 

“I wouldn’t necessarily go to a crowded Halloween party, but I think that we should be able to let our kids go trick-or-treating in small groups, and I hope that we can do that this year,” she said.

Walensky’s comments come as drug companies like Pfizer aim to submit data to begin seeking approval to use their vaccines for children ages 5 to 11 in the coming days. Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine is already approved in the U.S. for people ages 12 and up. 

About 75 percent of the U.S. population ages 12 and older has received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose, according to data from the CDC.