Last week Dr. Anthony Fauci said Santa Claus is immune to the COVID-19 virus, but the Kalispell Center Mall is taking a few extra precautions to ensure safety when Santa’s sleigh touches down in Kalispell next week.

Local children will still get a chance to tell Santa their Christmas wish at the mall starting late next week, but in order to maintain social distancing, they won’t be sitting on Santa’s lap. A plexiglass divider will be put in place at the Christmas Village inside the mall in order to keep children and their families from interacting directly with Mr. Claus.

Brett Harker, a marketing representative for the Kalispell Center Mall, said they’re just waiting on receiving the plexiglass before they can start the annual tradition.

While they wait in line, families will be encouraged to stay 6 feet apart from other guests by stickers that are already in place on the floor, and Santa will have his own crew to sanitize the Christmas Village throughout the festivities.

Harker said it’s up to the photographer who takes the holiday photos to add in any additional safety measures. Before the Christmas Village opens for visitors, Harker said representatives from the mall will do a walk-through of the setup to make sure it meets all state requirements.

“They seemed pretty confident they could put something together that was safe and effective,” Harker said Monday. “Obviously we wouldn’t do it if we didn’t think it was safe.”

He recognized that Santa’s schedule is a bit more open this year, since events across the country have been canceled in efforts to stop the spread of the coronavirus. At the Kalispell Center Mall, Harker said there was a desire to keep the tradition alive, albeit with some major adjustments.

“People don’t want to give up on everything,” Harker said. “Hopefully it’ll work out.”

Harker isn’t too worried about being able to keep people safe and socially distanced in the mall while they wait for their turn to meet the man of the season, because he said the Christmas Village rarely attracts an onslaught of eager children like you see in holiday movies.

On a busy day in early December, Harker estimated there are usually no more than a dozen children that go through the Village. Later in the season, he said the maximum is usually around 20 per day.

“It’s not great big numbers,” he explained. “I can’t imagine there will be more than 10 people on the first day.”

The first day is scheduled for noon on Friday, Dec. 11, but Harker is hopeful Santa might be ready to go by Thursday, Dec. 10. It all depends on getting the safety measures in place and, of course, the weather up at the North Pole for Santa’s departure.