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When Gordon Delaney took a photo of the lineup outside the Costco store in Halifax around noontime Monday, he meant it as a way to tell his Facebook friends it was too busy to bother going there.

But when he got home and took a closer look at the people crowding into a long lineup, he wondered how that could happen when we’re constantly being told to keep our distance from each other because of COVID-19.

“I've been hearing a lot about people being asked to leave parks, beaches being closed,” said Delaney, who lives on the North Mountain in Centreville, Kings County.

“I have friends ... (in Halifax), they've been shooed from the Common or from the parks. …. Then you go into the parking lot of Costco and there's a hundred people all standing in their lines, so yeah, it did shock me.”

Delaney, who is a former reporter with The Chronicle Herald, said it was the first time he’s witnessed such disregard for the rules when shopping at grocery stores in Halifax or the Annapolis Valley.

“I really wasn't being critical of the Costco (shoppers) because I know that ... people have to eat, people have to get their groceries,” he said. “But I have to go to the store too and when I do ... the lineups have not been anything like that.”

After he posted the photo on Facebook, it sparked a slew of critical comments

“Guy gets fined $1000 for standing too (close) to someone at a bus stop, but yet this is allowed to happen?”

“And they wonder why NS has so many more cases than NB and other provinces," another commenter said.

A Herald staff member witnessed similar crowding at the store later in the week. A Costo employee told him they were frightened about getting the virus because of the overcrowding.

A Costco representative told the Herald on Thursday that the company would look into the concerns around the lineups. No response had been received by Friday.

Dr. Robert Strang, Nova Scotia’s chief medical officer, said occupational health inspectors have been visiting all big box stores and grocery chains to make sure social distancing rules are being enforced.

“I think a lot of them are doing what’s necessary within their in-store environments,” Strang said in response to a question at Thursday's COVID-19 news briefing. “A lot of it comes down to what people are doing outside their stores.

"It baffles me why we continue to have these behaviours. Police are aware of this, police are out there enforcing the public health order in a number of ways, but ultimately it comes down to Nova Scotians. Why do we continue to put ourselves and each other at risk?”

The situation drew an angry response from Premier Stephen McNeil.

“What happens if there’s a healh-care worker there?” McNeil said, his voice rising. “What happens if you’re passing on to a family who goes home and hands it off to their grandparents? What happens if they take it home and young children contract the virus? All we’re asking people to do is stand six feet apart. … This absolutely makes no sense. … How many more people are going to have to die before people understand this is a deadly disease?”

The premier said it’s also incumbent on Costco to make sure the people going into its stores are safe.

“Otherwise …. we’re going to be left to make some very hard decisions that will potentially impact individual businesses.”