LETTER: Store workers need masks; ask and volunteers would sew them

To Ozaukee Press:

The best advice my dad ever gave me was, “When in doubt, read the directions.” Medical experts are giving us their best advice on how to survive the coronavirus pandemic. Social distancing, washing hands, wearing masks—each of these actions improves our odds of not getting the virus.

But why are the grocery stores and essential businesses in our area ignoring the vital precaution of wearing masks? We all need to buy food, yet we’re all at the most risk when we do. Customers aren’t required to wear masks in the stores, and store staff aren’t required to either. “It’s my choice,” a grocery clerk told me when I expressed dismay that she wasn’t wearing a mask; I went to a different lane to check out more safely.

The United Food & Commercial Workers International Union reported in USA Today on April 14 that 30 supermarket employees have died of Covid-19, and 3,000 have called out of work after signs of illness. After two Walmart employees in Chicago died, Walmart began adopting additional safety measures, like limiting the number of people in stores, but employees still don’t all wear masks.

Store managers and supervisors throughout Ozaukee County, please be leaders and require your employees to wear face masks. The masks store workers and the public need don’t have to be those used by medical staff. They just need to cover the nose and mouth to improve the odds of staying safe. You can even make one out of a bandana and two rubber bands.

Better yet, if stores put out a public call to home sewers, they would receive donations of many homemade masks that would be protective and washable. I’d be happy to donate as many as I can. We have to help each other through this.

Those are the only directions that matter now.

Jennifer Wilke
Port Washington