‘You have not been forgotten,’ doctor says
The restrictions started online yesterday morning and in stores on Saturday afternoon.
The supermarket has sold out of many types of pasta online.
A post on the Morrisons website reads: “You may notice that delivery slots for our online groceries service are becoming less readily available as demand for home deliveries increases.
“We’re working hard to facilitate as many orders as we can, however please be aware that you may need to book your slot further in advance than usual.
“You will also discover that there is a maximum order number on selected products so we can make sure our customers still have access to essential products.”
A post on the Asda website reads: “Like most retailers, we have seen a heightened demand for products both in stores and online – particularly on items like hand sanitiser and cleaning products and as a result, have implemented a two-item limit on purchasing these items.
“Whilst we are doing everything we can to maintain the availability of products for all our customers, we are asking our customers to shop responsibly in our stores and online so that everyone has access to the essentials.
“We are also grateful to our colleagues for their efforts to make sure our shelves are being refilled regularly and would ask customers to be patient with them as they try to meet this increased demand for products on the shop floor.”
A Co-op spokesperson said: “Demand for food and drink products has risen, particularly for hand sanitiser, antibacterial soap and wipes, and toilet roll.
“We are temporarily limiting purchases on these items to a maximum of three per customer to maintain stocks and choice for all our customers.
“We are working with suppliers to maintain stock levels in store.”
Lild has yet to confirm any restrictions.
At Ocado toilet roll has been rationed to two 12-packs per customer.
AN INTENSIVE care consultant has penned a beautiful letter to older people reassuring them that they have not been forgotten about in the fight against coronavirus.
With official advice and “endless news reports” suggesting that coronavirus mainly affects the elderly, frail or those with underlying health conditions, Cardiff’s University Hospital of Wales medic Matt Morgan said he wanted to issue a message of reassurance.
Addressed to those who are elderly, frail, vulnerable, or with serious underlying health conditions, he promises: “We have not forgotten about you.”
“It must be so hard listening to endless news reports that end with ‘Don’t worry, this illness mainly affects the elderly, frail, vulnerable, or those with serious underlying health conditions’. What if that is you?” he wrote.
“Our passion as an intensive care community is fixing problems that can be fixed.
“Yet we often meet patients like you who have problems that cannot simply be fixed.
“As this virus continues to impact on the world, we will meet many more of you. Although we have fancy machines, powerful drugs and talented staff, none of these things cure every disease.
“All they do is give us time – time to work out what is wrong, time to hopefully treat it, and time for people to get better.
“But sometimes we already know what is wrong, we already know that there is no effective treatment.
“And so sometimes the machines offer little, intensive care offers no fix. But hope is not lost. We have not forgotten about you.”
His brutally honest yet passionate letter is a reminder of how emergency workers and medical staff are bearing the brunt of the concern over Covid-19.
Dr Morgan, who is an honorary senior research fellow at Cardiff University, and a consultant in intensive care medicine, research and development at the University Hospital of Wales, Heath, does not shy away from the reality of what coronavirus is, yet offers reassurance and hope.
He continues: “As difficult as this is, we will be honest.
“We will continue to use all of the treatments that may work and may get you back to being you again.
“We will use oxygen, fluid into your veins, antibiotics, all of the things that may work. But we won’t use the things that won’t work.
“We won’t use machines that can cause harm.
“We won’t press on your chest should your heart stop beating. Because these things won’t work. They won’t get you back to being you.
“And if these things are still not enough, we will sit with you and with your family. We will be honest, we will hold your hand, we will be there. We will change our focus from cure but, most importantly, we will continue to care. We have not forgotten about you.”
His eloquent letter is signed off by “The Intensive Care Unit”.
Describing why he wrote the moving letter, he said he wanted to focus on care as well as treatment.
Dr Morgan said: “We deal with lots of conditions in ICU that have no treatment for some patients. In these cases we are honest, don’t use the things that don’t work but always the things that do. We always continue to provide care.”
When it comes to planning for coronavirus, he added his current thoughts were “consumed by planning”.
“I’m planning for the hospital where I work, for the UK through a checklist to care for patients we have developed and for the world through research studies we have already set up in Wales,” he explained. “The remaining thoughts are for my family, including close family members who are elderly or with long-term health conditions.”