Emergency food parcels arrive in county

They are for those who've been told to ‘shield’ for at least 12 weeks

Emergency food parcels have arrived in Devon and have begun to be distributed to the county’s most vulnerable residents.

The parcels will be delivered to those who have been told by the Government to ‘shield’ from coronavirus (COVID-19) for at least 12 weeks.

These are people who have been identified as being at high risk of severe illness from coronavirus because of underlying health conditions should have received a letter from the NHS with instructions on how they can best protect themselves.

Volunteer staff redeployed from other council services have started to pack up the emergency food parcels at an undisclosed distribution hub on the outskirts of Exeter where the food, which was organised by Government and dispatched from a local wholesaler, arrived earlier today.

The parcels, which are free and contain seven days-worth of mostly non-perishable food for one person, will then be shipped out to district areas using Devon Highways vehicles driven by Civil Enforcement Officers from the County Council’s parking team.

The emergency food parcels contain things like bread, milk, apples, tea bags, ready meals, egg noodles, biscuits, porridge, custard, baked beans, squash, sugar.

They are standard packages, which all contain the same food, but call handlers, who have been phoning these people over the weekend to find out what their needs are, have been asking if they have specific dietary requirements or allergies, so they can warn people the parcels may contain food they cannot eat.

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Ninety of the most vulnerable people in Torbay received essential supplies on Monday under the Government’s shielding measures.

Torbay Council organised the purchase and delivery of the packages containing food, toilet rolls and toiletries.

Staff were switched from other jobs to take part in the operation across Torbay.

It followed the council being given a list in the morning of around 150 names of the most medically vulnerable residents.

They were contacted to see if they needed the supplies, and the ones that did had received their drop-off by the end of the day.

The council is expecting to be given more names of the most vulnerable who have been told not to leave home for 12 weeks.