Editor:
I am contacting you regarding my experience at a Burnaby Costco (Brighton Avenue) on April 28.
My girlfriend (who is a RN at RCH) and I previously visited this location two weeks ago. Costco was doing an excellent job limiting the number of people in the store, which allowed for proper social distancing. However, our experience this time was quite different.
Too many people were in the store and it was difficult, if not impossible in some circumstances, to practice proper social distancing guidelines.
Many people were not respecting guidelines and it felt like any other day at Costco prior to the pandemic.
There were long lineups to pay at the cashier and some aisles/areas were overcrowded. Moreover, we witnessed staff not abiding by the guidelines by passing customers without waiting for adequate spacing or talking to each other closely, nor did they properly enforce the guidelines when I brought up the issue to the manager.
With my girlfriend being a front-line worker, this was deeply upsetting to witness as she knows firsthand what this can lead to.
She contacted the public health officer, who then told her to contact the RCMP non-emergency line, who then told her to contact the Burnaby bylaw office, who finally gave her a Fraser Health COVID-19 hotline. She awaits a return call.
I hope that you can shed some light on this instance and to get the message out there that this is not the time to relax the restrictions.
Derek Brigham, Burnaby
