Coronavirus: Costume Designers Guild will sew masks for hospitals

To support the medical community during the coronavirus pandemic, the Costume Designers Guild is gathering members to sew masks for hospitals to deal with the shortage of materials.

Salvador Perez, president of the guild, said that the drive will also help keep the members "busy" in the current scenario where everything has come to a standstill.

They will go ahead with the initiative after a conference call with the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, he said.

"We are organizing all our members from local 892 and local 705 costumers who can sew, to manufacture masks for hospitals. It will be good to keep busy and help the community," Perez told Variety.

The call comes after the government and companies race against time to help hospitals with their mask shortage.

Grey's Anatomy, The Good Doctor and Station 19 are among the television shows that have already donated their masks and gowns amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a letter to the members of Motion Picture Editors Guild, national executive director Cathy Repola appealed to them to contribute in any manner possible.

If any of you sew or want to volunteer to deliver the masks (without violating the social distancing guidelines), please let us know and we will put you in touch with those coordinating, Repola said in the letter.

She also called on members to support residents of the Motion Picture and Television Fund, adding that residents are without any group activities or meals and isolated in their rooms.

We are social beings by nature (some more than others), so we must make efforts to maintain a sense of community in the midst of social separation," Repola said as she asked members to be in touch with those is self-isolation via video messages.