The big picture: Demand for professional Santas surged this holiday season, but supply dwindled as many chose to retire or take the year off.

Many Santas fall into the high-risk category due to their age or weight. Hundreds have died since the beginning of the pandemic, many due to COVID-19, Slate reports.

What’s happening: While some malls secured their Santas far in advance, others, like Minnesota’s Mall of America, pivoted — opting for socially distant experiences instead.

“None of our Santas were comfortable going back to the way it used to be,” Lando Luther, owner of The Santa Experience, a longtime tenant in the Mall of America, tells Axios Twin Cities’ Audrey Kennedy. “They don’t mind getting spit up or peed on, COVID-19 is the concern.”