'Grey’s Anatomy' Star Camilla Luddington Defends Wearing PPE Amid Shortage

Grey's Anatomy is back.

After the long-running medical drama's sixteenth season was cut short due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Meredith Grey and her fellow doctors at Grey Sloane Memorial returned for the series' landmark seventeenth season last week. Ahead of the premiere, showrunner Krista Vernoff revealed Grey's Anatomy would be covering the pandemic as one of its major storylines this year. This means the characters are often seen wearing personal protective equipment (PPE), including KN95 masks, that real doctors and nurses wear while fighting COVID-19.

Following the season premiere, one viewer took to Twitter to call the cast out for “wasting” PPE that could be better used by first responders amid nationwide supply shortages. “A disposable mask will work just fine,” the viewer added.

Camilla Luddington, who plays Dr. Jo Wilson on Grey’s, caught wind of the criticism and decided to respond. “If you see any of us wearing KN95s behind the scenes it’s because we are wearing our costume masks. We don’t also get an extra KN95 to wear between takes,” she explained. Back in the spring, Grey's Anatomy donated its extra PPE to first responders on the frontline of the pandemic, as well.

While COVID numbers are still rising, Vernoff believes the Grey's Anatomy cast and crew were able to safely film the current season. “It’s social distancing, it’s masks, it’s visors — it’s masks on the actors between takes and during rehearsals,” she told Variety in October. “It’s just shocking how slowly we’re having to move. … It changes the feeling of the show. It changes the pacing of the show. It is what it is.”

“I keep saying to people, ‘No, no really, we’ve actually reinvented the wheel. We are changing everything everyone has ever understood about how you make television,'” she continued. “Everything is changing.”

Grey's Anatomy airs on ABC at 9pm weekly.

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