At Costco during the Coronavirus pandemic!

Don't normally shop Costco except late weekday afternoons to get the $5 48 ounce rotisserie chicken for dinner. Have come here on weekends at 9am when they open with no problems with congestion. The coronavirus pandemic has changed everything.

930am Saturday morning drove completely around the huge block long warehouse looking for parking. Found some, but right by the Costco gas station, a place you will be trapped once the traffic lines build up for gas. No gas line today, as nobody is here for gas.

Got a shopping cart and joined the line of people entering, when someone tapped my shoulder, pointing to the end of the line 100 yards back. First time ever that I had to wait in a long line to enter Costco.

Got the usual stuff, 2 gallons of milk for $5.79, and the $4.99 48 ounce rotisserie chicken, along with lots of stuff on sale, including a 64 ounce of dried cranberries, normally $9, on sale for $5.

Saw some people have Clorox disinfecting wipes in 5 individual cylinders. Ask for directions, and navigated to the farthest reaches of the giant warehouse. Just like in stores where they store the milk and eggs farthest from the entrance, to make you walk through the entire store.

Everyone else doing the same thing, and I kick, shove my way through, stepping on toes. No, not really, but my ex wife would.

A forklift brought in a pallet of Clorox disinfecting wraps, five cylinders per package, limited to one package per customer. The pallet of several hundred packages were sold out in minutes! They had packages of a dozen paper towels, also limited one per customer, but I passed on that. Did see at least one guy in line with two big packages of paper towels.

Face masks, spray or liquid hand disinfectant? Sold out 6 weeks ago, no thanks to profiteers, who cleaned out the existing supplies, amassing stockpiles of hand sanitizer and crucial respirator masks, for resale on the internet at exorbitant prices. And I did not see any shopping carts with toilet paper.

Get out of there about 40 minutes after arriving. Meanwhile line to get into the store now stretches a good 300 yards around the building. Person in the checkout line told me that some people started lining up at 6am, 3 hours before they open. Panic buying in anticipation of product shortages, self-isolations, lockdowns and quarantines in the coronavirus pandemic.

Just heard that Costco will open 8am-10am Tuesdays and Thursdays for customers age 60+, starting March 24. Why isn't it 65+ like everywhere else? No wonder the lines are so long.

Santa Clara County with 302 coronavirus cases on March 22, compared to 14 on March 6, the epicenter of such cases in CA. 6 counties in the Bay Area- 7 million people- ordered shelter in place. All nonessential businesses closed. Supermarkets, including Costco exempted. Old farts like me risking their lives standing in line!