What You Need to Know-Week of October 12th
The most important weekly updates for you to keep your community healthy
In this Update:
1. Pandemic Preparedness: Alternatives to Traditional Halloween Activities
2. Information You Need: COVID-19 Vaccine Myth-busters
3. Quick Question: How Can I Vote Safely – Mail in Ballot?
1. Pandemic Preparedness: Alternatives to Traditional Halloween Activities
Like many other events during the pandemic, Halloween will look a little different this year. If you are still hoping to get into the spooky spirit, here are some safer alternatives to the traditional Halloween activities:
| Traditional Halloween Activity | Low-Risk Alternative Halloween Activities |
|---|---|
| Trick or Treating | Backyard trick or treating with members of your household: Hide candy around a front or backyard (similar to an Easter egg hunt) for children to look for. Remember, all candies that are shared should be individually wrapped to reduce the potential spread of germs. Create Halloween baskets or treat bags either to share with members of your household or to drop off outside of your friends and family’s households. |
| Halloween Parties/Movies | Online costume party (through Zoom, Skype, Facetime, or another video calling platform) Create a list of Halloween (and/or scary!) movies, and pick a random movie to watch every day in October Use an online browser extension to watch Halloween movies with people outside of your household If you already have a streaming subscription, there are a lot of free options to use for an online watch party |
| Pumpkin Patch or Fall Festival |
Buy pumpkins to carve at home with members of your household |
| Haunted House | Create an at home haunted house (e.g., decorations, lights, scary music) with the people you live with |
Additional Low Risk Halloween Activities
- Decorate your home for Fall or Halloween with people that you live with
- Plan Halloween arts and crafts (e.g., making slime, making witch hats)
- Cook spooky themed food recipe together (e.g., decorating cookies, making eyeball cake-pops)
- Play a Halloween board game
- With people in your household, or with others via video calling
- Read or tell scary stories
- With people in your household, or with others via video calling (halloween filters for video calling can add to the fun)
2. Information You Need: COVID-19 Vaccine Myth-busters
After receiving community feedback, it was clear that many of you wanted to know more about vaccines and immunity surrounding COVID-19! And with the amount of available COVID-19 information, it is important to keep in mind that not all of it is accurate or helpful. This article discusses some of the inaccurate information surrounding a COVID-19 vaccine and what you should know instead. If you’d like more information about sources to use for credible COVID-19 information, visit our previous update. If you would like more information about how to participate in a COVID-19 vaccine research trial please visit COVID Prevention Network and enter “CEAL.AZ” when prompted.
| Inaccurate COVID-19 Vaccine Information | What You Should Know |
| INACCURATE INFO: A COVID-19 vaccine will be “ready” for the public this Fall. | This is not true. It is not yet confirmed when a vaccine will be made available to the public, but it is very unlikely that this will take place by Fall 2020. Many experts suggest that a vaccine will likely be available for the public in mid 2021. |
| INACCURATE INFO: People will only need one dose of the vaccine to be completely immune to COVID-19. | We don’t know this yet. More research needs to be done on the topic of COVID-19 and immunity. However, some experts are suggesting that the COVID-19 vaccine could be similar to the flu shot, which needs to be administered each year to be most effective. |
| INACCURATE INFO: I already had COVID-19, I won’t need the vaccine. | This is most likely not true. Again, more research is needed to understand how immunity related to COVID-19 works. There is research that suggests many COVID-19 cases lead to antibodies (or protection from reinfection), but it appears that this potential immunity may wane after several months. |
| INACCURATE INFO: If I have the flu vaccine, I will be protected from COVID-19. | The flu vaccine will not prevent you from catching COVID-19. The seasonal flu and COVID-19 are caused by two different viruses, which means they require different antibodies to protect against them. However, it is especially important to receive a flu shot during this pandemic. If you currently have COVID-19, or have had it previously, talk to your healthcare provider about receiving the flu vaccine. For more information about why it is important to get your flu shot, visit our previous update. |
| INACCURATE INFO: When somebody or an organization says a vaccine is “ready,” it means that it is ready to be given to the public. | This is not always true. The vaccine being “ready” could also mean that it is ready to go into clinical trials or enter a new phase of the trial. During these points there is still a lot of testing that needs to be done. Even after the vaccine is approved, it will take time for it to be distributed and made available to the general public. For more information about the process of vaccine development, visit our previous update. |
3. Quick Question: How to Vote Safely – Vote by Mail Option
With the general elections quickly approaching, we want to best prepare you for how to vote safely! The safest way to vote in the time of COVID-19 is to request a ballot-by-mail, especially if you have a condition that would contribute to severe COVID-19 illness. If you have not already signed up for the permanent early voting list (PEVL), you can still do so as long as you are registered to vote in the state of Arizona(Learn more). Here are some important pieces of information and deadlines to remember for the election season:
✓ MAKE SURE YOUR VOTING INFORMATION IS UP TO DATE
- It’s important that your voting identification card is up to date with your current name and address.
- It’s helpful to check your voting information, especially if you have recently moved.
- The deadline for registering to vote or updating your voting information is on October 23rd @ 5pm.
- You can check your voting information by visiting Arizona Voter Information Portal, or by texting “CHECK” to 504-09
✓ YOUR OPTIONS FOR BALLOT-BY-MAIL
- If you are a registered voter in the state of Arizona, you have two ballot-by-mail options:
- You can make a request to receive a ballot-by-mail for only the general election.
- Or you could join the permanent early voting list (PEVL), where you would get a ballot-by-mail for all future elections, until you opt out of the service.
- Visit Service Arizona to request a ballot-by-mail, or to join the PEVL.
✓ DEADLINE TO REQUEST A BALLOT-BY-MAIL
- You can request a ballot-by-mail or join the PEVL at any time.
- However, the last day that you can request a ballot-by-mail in time to vote in the general election is October 23rd @ 5pm.
- The latest date to return your ballot-by-mail is October 27th, but it doesn’t hurt to return it earlier.
- You can also drop off your ballot at any ballot drop-box, drop-off location, or voting location in your county on or before election day (November 3rd).
- After it’s mailed out, you can check the status of your ballot by visiting Arizona Voter Information Portal.
**Next week, we’ll be releasing an update with tips on how to vote safely in-person, if you are unable to vote by mail.
The next update will cover information about voting in-person. If you would like to learn more about this and other topics related to COVID-19 in Arizona, please complete next week’s AZCOVIDTXT survey that you will receive via text in about a week.