news // no. 4 What will Halloween look like Canada wide? » BCCDC releases guidelines for trick-or-treating festivities Jessica Berget Assistant Editor hile some cities are deciding to cancel trick or treating completely this year, BC is still is allowed to carry out everyone's favourite part of Halloween. With the holiday right around the corner, provinces’ health and safety institutions are releasing guidelines for the candy collecting activity. The BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) released some rules for this year’s celebrations. They recommend celebrating locally and less socially than previous years—with only about six people in each bubble—and warn against sharing snacks, drinks, “smokes, and tokes.” They also Vancouver Startup Week and BC recommend standing outside to hand out candy so children don’t touch the doors or doorbells, and using precautions when handing out candy, such as tongs, ensuring each piece is sealed and pre-packaged, and even making a “candy slide” to distribute the treats. As for decorations, they also recommend forgoing the fog machines which can induce coughing for some. Meanwhile, Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer Theresa Tam says indoor parties are a big no-no for this year’s spooky celebrations, but trick or treating should be fine as long as physical distancing is maintained. New Brunswick will be expected to carry full out Halloween fun, complete with door-toodoor candy distribution, but people participating are recommended to still take precautions such as washing and sanitizing their hands. Some provinces, however, are not so lucky. Quebec for instance will have much stricter regimens for Halloween fun. Premier Francois Legault announced that kids will have to celebrate with only their families for this holiday, not with friends. People handing out candy will also have to ensure they stay two metres away from the trick or treaters. He also emphasized that this Halloween will be only for kids as no parties should be organized. Ontario’s Medical Officer of Health David Williams recommends that children in Toronto, Ottawa, Peel, and York do not go out for treats this year, as these cities are COVID “hot Tech Association bring people together amid COVID-19 » Online events quickly cementing themselves as the norm Mo Hussain Sports Reporter Or of the aspects of life that the coronavirus pandemic has significantly affected has been people's ability to network with one another in-person. This has caused many organizations who host in-person events to deal with a double-edged sword; a virtual experience doesn’t quite replicate the in-person experience, but many could still feel very cautious about attending in- person events. “Having spoken to a few people, | really had second thoughts about doing a meet-and-greet. It doesn’t seem right to me,’ said Nick Rockel, editor-in-chief of BCBusiness magazine in an interview with the Other Press, who has attended one small, socially distanced gathering amid the pandemic. However, organizations like the BC Tech Association and Vancouver Startup Week have somehow found new ways to pivot in such times. “When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March, we saw opportunities to bring the community together like never before, said President and CEO of the BC Tech Association Jill Tipping in an interview with the Other Press. “We supplemented our enhanced social media channels and weekly newsletters by initiating weekly virtual town halls. This enabled participants from across BC to learn about relevant government updates, discuss how the ? programming impacts their business, receive guidance from thought leaders, and ask questions about the resources available to them. It was a way to come together, stay connected, and solve problems,” she said. Tipping also said the organization launched programs such as HyperTalent, HyperTech, HyperGrowth, HyperScale, and HyperGlobal in order to help ensure support for tech companies and companies looking to adopt technology. In early October, Vancouver Startup Week wrapped up their annual weeklong event entirely on a virtual event platform called “hopin,” which gave a good opportunity for those outside of Vancouver to attend. “Minus Antarctica, we have one (attendee) from every continent coming to theotherpress.ca Illustration by Anastasia Simonovich spots.” The decision has been met with much criticism from disease experts who say the city could have come up with some fun and safe options. An infectious disease physician in Toronto, Dr. Andrew Morris, takes issue with the cancellation. “We've been telling everyone—I know I have—that if you want to have a low-risk activity, what you do is you have people socially distanced, outside, wearing masks, preferably not in crowded conditions. Cancelling such a low-risk activity won't make sense to kids. It doesn’t make sense to adults; it certainly doesn’t make sense to me. I’m really so disappointed,” he said to The Globe and Mail. startup week—which would never happen had we done a fully in-person event,” said co-chair of Vancouver Startup Week, Vivian Chan in an interview with the Other Press. Chan also said that some global participants attended because they were considering moving to Vancouver and wanted to get a sense of the environment that the city brings and who they could potentially network with should they make that decision. It will be interesting to see if transitioning to virtual networking and virtual events will completely overtake the in-person event and networking experience in the coming years.