FOR the past few days, I have received SMS messages from colleagues and friends with the same “tip-off” – the workers of a Hong Kong-based fashion outlet in a Petaling Jaya shopping mall have been hit by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and the shop has been closed for five days.
On Tuesday, the rumour mill peaked. The loose talk came from even professionals such as lawyers and doctors, who should have known better. None of them, on being questioned, had bothered to verify what they had heard.