The Oregon Health Authority, offering a public service announcement for Halloween, featured two doctors dressed in costumes, with one dressed as a clown while she announced the daily death statistics and new cases of COVID-19 in the state.
Wearing a red tie, polka dot shirt, bright yellow pants, and a clown face made from makeup, senior health advisor and pediatrician Dr. Claire Poche stated:
Hello. I’m Dr. Claire Poche. I’m a general pediatrician and also a senior health advisor here at the Oregon Health Authority. I’m here with Shimi Sharief, my colleague, who’s also a senior health advisor, and we thought we’d start by giving you a quick update on where we are as a state with COVID-19. As of today, there have been 38,160 cases of COVID-19 in Oregon, with 390 new cases being reported today. Sadly, we are also reporting three deaths today, bringing the statewide total for COVID-19 related deaths to 608.
I'm sorry but who at the Oregon Health Authority thought this was a good idea? pic.twitter.com/xXHia14KSg
— Samantha Swindler (@editorswindler) October 27, 2020
Her colleague, senior health advisor Shimi Sharief, dressed in an anthropomorphic onesie, as The Post-Millennial noted, continued with suggestions for the holiday:
The COVID-19 pandemic is reshaping how Oregonians celebrate holidays, and that includes Halloween but it doesn’t mean Halloween can’t still be spooky and fun this year. Here are some low-risk Halloween activities that you can engage in with your loved ones and family: online costume contests, watching a scary movie online, carving pumpkins with members of your household, touring neighborhood yards and home displays with household members, decorating your house, apartment or living space with spooky lights, cotton spider webs, and other fun decorations, a Halloween scavenger hunt for candy in or around your house with members of your household, baking and decorating Halloween cookies with members of your household, hiding small pumpkins in your yard for your children to find, having a Halloween craft night with your family, sending Halloween cards, and telling spooky stories with the lights out.
Sharief segued to warnings for celebrators: “If you wear a costume, be sure to wear a face covering that covers your nose, mouth, and fits snugly on your cheeks. A Halloween mask won’t protect you or others from spreading coronavirus. We also recommend continuing to practice the safety precautions you’ve been practicing all along, and these include staying at least six feet away from people who are not in your household, wearing a face covering, and avoiding large gatherings.”
During a subsequent Q&A, Poche said, “As for me, we clowns kind of took a back seat from Halloween for a while; we were kind of relegated to birthday parties for several years. There were some bad actors who dressed up as clowns back in Halloween, I don’t know, maybe it was 2015, but I’m hoping to bring us back as the fun-loving and happy clowns that we have always been.”
The Post-Millenial claimed that the recording was made October 14.