What's scarier than the coronavirus?

There is still uncertainty this Halloween about whether it's safe enough for trick or treaters to participate in festivities. Yet, one thing is becoming apparent: the spooks of the holiday will include a lot more than your traditional ghosts and goblins decorations.

A man in Chester, Virginia, has used red Solo cups and a mask to transform the bush in front of his home into a makeshift coronavirus cell.

Robert Linkous, who expressed his love for Halloween decorations, thought his coronavirus bush would be the perfect way to ring in the spooky season. Plus, it helps that his coronavirus bush offers a little bit of comic relief during this tumultuous time. 

The Coronavirus Bush Seen 'Round the Neighborhood

His coronavirus bush features three linked red Solo cups that are sporadically placed around the bush so that they look like virus receptors. This dark red contrast against the green bush offers the perfect resemblance of the now-iconic 3D picture of the virus that has been plastered all over the media for the last seven months. 

While some of his neighbors were confused at first, the large fabric "mask" he added across the front made it pretty clear that the bush represents the virus. Scary though it is, his coronavirus bush also serves as a gentle reminder for people to wear their masks.

Linkous's coronavirus bush is witty and creative, but the seriousness of following safety precautions hits very close to home for him and his wife, Wendy, whose battle against breast and ovarian cancer last year put her on the list of high-risk individuals. As a result, they were already taking safety precautions long before COVID-19 was even known about in the U.S.

“Last year, my wife finished up cancer treatments in February," Linkous said. "As part of trying to keep from bringing germs into the house, we were already practicing social distancing and taking necessary precautions when the pandemic hit.”

The health scares that Linkous and his wife faced seemed to fall right in line with the Halloween decoration, so it only made sense that they run wild with this ingenious idea. 

“I was really looking forward to putting 2019 behind me, and then, 2020 just kind of laughed in my face,” said Wendy.

Instead of falling into a slump the way an unprecedented number of Americans have, the family saw the opportunity to bring a little joy to their community. And with a climate so divided on the "to-wear-or-not-to-wear-a-mask debate," the coronavirus bush is hopefully one way to get that safety message across in a way that brings out a chuckle or two.