By Brenna Reker & Carrie Moritz
On Friday, the CDC revised its recommendations to encourage the public to wear masks, though they also requested we use fabric masks, leaving disposable surgical masks and N95-style masks for medical workers, who are currently finding them in short supply due to the pandemic. To help produce fabric masks, several people have stepped up and started making them, including some folks in Garretson.
Brenna Reker is a 5th grader at Garretson Elementary, and is a member of the Springdell 4-H club. She opted to start sewing masks as a community service project for 4-H.
“I had extra time. No sports to play, and my room is cleaned, and homework for the week is done,” she wrote to the Gazette. “So I thought about starting some 4-H projects. One day on KELO Living they showed how to sew these masks. I have sewn clothes for 4-H and this looked like something I could do.”
Initially, she planned on making some to donate to Avera Hospital, but when she found out people in Garretson were requesting masks, she opted to start making them for donation to the community.
“I found a location that Garretson people can pick up a mask and continue social distancing. You can get a mask at O So Good,” she wrote. “They are free or you can leave a donation to cover supplies to make more masks.”
Fabric masks, while not as highly protective as surgical or N95 masks, do provide at least some protection. The coronavirus particles are approximately 0.2 microns in size, and cotton fabric masks filter out about 50% of those particles. However, they also work to prevent larger respiration particles (for instance, spittle) from entering the mouth or nose, which, along with touching the face, are the main ways the virus enters the body. Wearing glasses helps to protect the eyes.
Reker, while possibly the youngest mask-maker in Garretson, is not the only person who has put her skills to work. Others, such as Mary Tilberg, her sister Laurie Nussbaum, and community member Lisa Meinders (former editor of the Gazette) have also put their sewing machines to work.
A special education evaluator for the Sioux Falls School District, Tilberg suddenly found herself with a lot of extra time when schools closed due to the pandemic.
“All of my work is contact with kids,” she said. “I’m an evaluator. I do the testing. I can’t do that on Zoom.”
One day, Tilberg was perusing Facebook. After reading a post about masks being needed for healthcare workers by her sister in law, who lives in the Washington, D.C area, and watching some YouTube videos on how to make them, Tilberg opted to start making masks for Sanford Hospital to use.
“My sewing machine has been stuck in the closet for a year and a half or more,” Tilberg said. “I don’t do anything fancy but have some fabric stocked away.” Her sister Laurie got in on it as well, and between the two of them, they have made over 100 masks.
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