It’s Halloween night, and people were waiting in their living rooms ready to hand out their large bowls of candy.

They waited, and they waited, and they waited.

Only a handful of people knocked on their doors all night. All of them left dumbfounded with the amount of candy they had left.  With many people being turned off from trick-or-treating due to COVID-19, streets are left empty and devoid of trick-or-treaters this past October 31 holiday.

Maize South sophomore Timothy Core took significantly more precautions while handing out candy this year.  He’s been sanitizing and took steps to keep safe while still participating in the holiday. 

“I don’t like trick or treating anymore, but I like giving out candy. I have to wear gloves and sanitize,” said Core.

Camden Nguyen (09) noticed fewer porch lights on in general this Halloween near Maize.

“I’ve noticed less people giving out candy, I think people have the right to not hand out candy if they don’t want to,” said Nguyen.

Nguyen’s little brothers still went out trick-or-treating for the evening He was able to carve pumpkins, spend time with family, and walk his brothers around neighborhoods to stuff their bags full of treats.

“I carved pumpkins and then I just hung out with the family,” said Nguyen. “My little brothers went trick or treating and I walked with them.”

English teacher Mr. Rice made adjustments while taking plenty of precautions this year. He still was able to have a great evening with his family outside his home in a driveway get-together.

“Every year we get together with friends and send our kids trick or testing with each other,” said Rice. “ This year, with the Coronavirus, we decided to do a nice little socially distant gathering in our driveway.”

Halloween was canceled for many this year, and some believe it’s for a good reason. The positivity rate has jumped nearly 5% in just two weeks in Sedgwick County, so this wasn’t the best timing for having one of the most social holidays out of the year. 

While a portion of our community are making the right decisions with masks and social distancing, Rice still feels that a large majority may be hindering our annual family traditions with the holidays fast approaching.

“Some people are taking good precautions but I, unfortunately, think that the actions of those not taking precautions are prolonging the whole thing,” said Rice. “So we need to come together as a community and say, let’s all just buckle down for a while, do what we need to do, to take care of it.”