Coronavirus In Chicago: Tattoo Artists Unite To Donate Gloves To Hospitals Fighting COVID-19

CHICAGO (CBS) -- A shortage of medical gloves is greatly challenging the professionals working to confront the coronavirus. CBS 2's Vince Gerasole discovered how tattoo salons are rising to the challenge in a way you might not have realized.

Insight Studios is locked tight, and most of the piercings or tattoos you will find here today limited to their design catalogs.

"It's kind of strange because no one is coming in," said Insight's Bob Jones. And there is no one manning the stations where artists use sanitizers and medical grade gloves,.

"It's been a wakeup call for the most part, but if it's what I got to do, it's what I got to do," Jones, who owns Insight. He knows the tools of his trade are exactly the same now desperately needed in hospitals.

"That's why we thought this was good" to donate his idle stock of gloves, he said.

"We are using the same equipment." Jones said. "It only makes sense. It's literally just sitting there."

Jones' call went out to tattoo and piercing studios across the area, and the response was overwhelming--box after box, tens of thousands of gloves.

Jenny and Koz drove from studio to studio collecting donations from Crown Point to Chicago.

"Even if they had just one box they were excited just to be helping out," Koz said.

Right now, Jones has no revenue, but when it comes to meeting a challenge, this piercing artist, gets the point.

"You got to give to get," he said. "So maybe the universe will say you did a good thing and it will come out."

Jones collected 14,000 gloves, 352 masks and 7.5 gallons of disenfectant--all going to the Jesse Brown Veterans Hospital.