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Make masks, stop virus

Above: A few of the different designs the Albright family have to select from when making masks for Project 13.

KaiPing Albright watched the spread of coronavirus in March through historic lenses.

She experienced the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome outbreak in 2002 when she was living in her native Taiwan. Over a two-week stretch Taiwan's original 29 probable cases and no deaths grew to 116 cases and 10 deaths. Numbers increased sixfold – 680 cases and 81 deaths – in a month. Journalist Ying-Hen Hsieh wrote in nature.com that inexperience at containing outbreaks and a lack of expert assistance from the World Health Organization contributed, at least in part, to the outbreak in Taiwan.

Albright watched the progression of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) from her home in Seward. She saw the Taiwanese government's preemptive reaction that led to only 487 total cases and seven deaths since the start of the pandemic.

Then she wondered what if a disease like that came to America.

“We didn't have anything to protect ourselves here,” she said. “The only thing we could do was to make masks.”

Albright started making her first masks on March 26 for four friends going through chemotherapy. They took time but served their purpose. Then she wanted to branch out with no idea how. Nearly half a year later she's streamlined the process and people have started coming to her.

“I think in the beginning we didn't know how important it was to give out masks,” Albright said. “So I tried to make good masks.”

For more of the story, check out tomorrow's paper.

Local News

McDaniel returns
Concordia welcomed back graduate Dr. Gary McDaniel as the school's new vice president of enrollment and marketing.
Dr. McDaniel (Class of 1983) was a 4-year letter-winning offensive lineman for the Bulldogs. He was twice named all-conference and helped Concordia win the 1981 conference championship.
Four Corners announces new COVID-related death
A Polk County man, described as a person in his 70s with "significant underlying health conditions" has died after testing positive for coronavirus, Four Corners Health District announced in its Monday afternoon update.
Three new cases of coronavirus were confirmed in Seward County throughout the weekend, bringing its total case number up to 181. Of those, 105 have recovered.

Events

Tuesday meetings 
Seward City Council and Seward County Commissioners both meet today. 
Commissioners begin at 8:30 a.m. and city council meets at 7 p.m. 
 
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