A professor surnamed Ma who recently arrived home in Beijing from a business trip tested positive for COVID-19, making him another local case involving the more infectious delta variant in Beijing.

However, this is just the start of the story. The 51-year-old man’s itinerary, which is said to involve a first-class flight from the seaside city Sanya to Beijing, a massage and a hotpot dinner near his home in Beijing, made him the target of juicy gossip.

Soon after the itinerary was revealed by the Beijing Municipal Health Commission, netizens began to work their “imagination” – the professor had gone to Sanya with his mistress, which is why he was alone on the business trip. The professor has already announced that he will take legal measures to defend his reputation as the rumors were creating trouble for his family.

This is not the first time that such imagination has run wild. A confirmed case in Wuhan was described as a playboy as he was with his “ex-girlfriend” on one day and “present-girlfriend” on another day when his itinerary was released by local health authority. Soon one of the involved “girlfriend” said that the story was not true and she hoped the public will pay more attention to official news instead of rumors.

In fact, for those who are impacted, gossip can be downright painful and almost impossible to ignore – especially if social media is being used to spread it.

The professor issued a short statement titled “Gossip is a fearful thing” on social media denying the rumors, and said he could not deal with those fabrications as he was still in hospital with a temperature of 39 C.

Spreading gossip in person or online is not helpful as it hurts the person being talked about.

After all, those confirmed cases have contracted the virus and have given up their privacy for the public good to prevent the possible spread of the virus.

The public should focus on official information to better prevent the spread of the virus, instead of looking for juicy gossip based solely on imagination.

The author is a writer with China Daily.

The views don't necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

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