Mel keen to protect her community

A Horsham woman making face masks for others believes covering up is a sign of respect for the community.

Mel Cook, a research scientist, has been using her sewing skills to make face masks to help curb the spread of COVID-19.

Ms Cook has been wearing a mask in public for months and said she was pleased to see more people in the region doing the same.

“I’ve been wearing a mask but I haven’t seen anyone else doing it until recently,” she said.

“I think people are a little more scared now and are taking it a bit more seriously.

“A lot of people seem to think it is a Melbourne problem or they are blaming individuals, but even if you do everything right, there is still a risk.

“Wearing a mask shows we care about others, especially about retail staff and other essential workers. We all have to do the best we can.”

Ms Cook was hiking in Patagonia, Chile, when the coronavirus was declared a pandemic in March.

“When I left on the hike there were 25 cases in Australia and when I finished, the national park was closing and they were kicking people out,” she said.

“So much had changed in the 10 days. The borders were closing, my flights were cancelled and it went from being a bit of a concern to a pandemic.

“It’s amazing how things can happen so quickly.”

Ms Cook said she managed to return to Australia in April.

“I got back a week before hotel quarantine came in, so I was able to quarantine at home, which was lucky,” she said.

“Even though it was good to be home, I felt pretty safe in Patagonia, it’s pretty rural.

“I heard reports of people hoarding toilet paper and the supermarkets running out of products on shelves in Australia, but in Patagonia, things were quite calm.

“A lot of people were wearing masks there, even back in March. They were taking things very seriously at a local level.”

Ms Cook said it took her about 20 minutes to sew a mask and although she had a backlog, she would like to offer her services to community groups.

She said she would like to use profits from individual mask sales to donate extra masks to groups in need.

She said leaders of community groups could email her at melissajanerogan@gmail.com for more information.

Anyone who wants to volunteer their sewing skills can also email Ms Cook.