We want to hear from you: Are you planning to celebrate Halloween this year? If you’re planning to go trick-or-treating, will you be taking COVID precautions?

While coronavirus pandemic precautions helped keep the flu away last year, experts are worried that we won’t be so lucky this year.

DETROIT – The Centers For Disease Control And Prevention released its new guidelines on how to safely reopen schools for in-person learning Friday. READ: CDC: Strong evidence in-person schooling can be done safelyIn a telephone briefing, health officials said the CDC is not mandating that schools open, but rather it’s providing a road map for how to do so safely. They highlighted five key mitigation strategies, stressing two are most important -- universal and correct mask usage being required for all students and staff, and physically distancing of at least six feet between people. “These two strategies are incredibly important in areas that have high have high community spread of COVID-19,” Walensky said. “Which, right now, is the vast majority of communities in the United States.”Other key strategies include washing hands, cleaning facilities and improving ventilation; and contact tracing, isolation and quarantining.

DETROIT – You’ve no doubt seen the plexiglass dividers being used to protect people in different public settings. Now they have been installed on the stage at Wednesday’s 2020 Vice Presidential Debate to shield the participants from each other, but are they effective? Plexiglass shields and partial walls sound like a good idea -- a solid barrier between two people must do something to protect them from each other -- but many of the extreme measures we’re taking in these days of COVID-19 aren’t necessarily rooted in science and often become hygiene theater. In many ways it’s a similar circumstance to the question over the effectiveness of face shields. Recent analysis has shown while they do block large droplets -- aerosols can travel around them.

The advertiser paid a fee to promote this sponsored article and may have influenced or authored the content. This article is sponsored by Beaumont Health. Many people are neglecting to visit the emergency department for fears of COVID. Dr. Ditkoff wants you to know that you should not hesitate to visit the emergency department if you have a serious medical condition. If you do not have any COVID symptoms, based on your screening, you will be moved to a separate area than people with COVID symptoms.