Restaurant owner targeted by coronavirus rumour bewildered by lies spread online

Lily Yung, owner of of the Grand Crystal Seafood Restaurant in Burnaby, B.C.'s Crystal Mall, saysa 36-character WeChat message tanked her family's business in less than a day.

The message claimed that one of the restaurant's employees was hit by the coronavirus known as COVID-19 and officials shut down the restaurant for 14 days. Neither of the claims were true.

"Vancouverites are already scared. Then you send out useless rumours and lies like this?" YungtoldCBC News in Cantonese.

In the latest count from the World Health Organization, more than 73,000 people around the world have been diagnosed withCOVID-19. Of those cases, 72,528 of them are in China. More than 1,800 people have died, three of them outside of China.

But in Canada, no one has died and only eight people have tested positive for the virus:five inB.C. andthree in Ontario.

Health officials have repeatedly saidthe risk of contracting it in B.C. is very low.

80 per cent decline

Yung said nothing in the rumour was true, but by the time a friend alerted her to the message on Saturday afternoon, it hadgone viral.

Business was already down in general because of coronavirus fears, but on Sundayshe noticed a sudden drop of about 80per cent ascustomers calledto cancel pricey banquet reservations.

It got so bad, she asked for special permission to post articles around the mall hoping to fight the lie.

"Very sad, so sad, because staff just lose thejobs," said Yung.

She says only 10 of her 20 kitchen staff are now working and servers have alsohad their hours slashed.

Yung doesn't know why someone may have targeted her business, but it's a question she hopes to have answered.

Fear possibly driving profit

On Monday, health officials pleaded with the Chinese community to trust official sources.

"Sometimes there are alternative agendas for misinformation," said federal Health Minister Patty Hajdu at a press conference in Vancouver's Chinese Cultural Centre.

"People sometimes drive fear because ... they can drive a profit."

Hajduand her provincial counterpart Adrian Dix, as well as Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart held a roundtable after many in the communitysaid they had lost anywhere from 50 to 70 per cent of their business during the outbreak.

All three levels of government asked the public to look to credible media sources and not to restrict social activities.

Why rumours are rampant

But one University of British Columbia professor who has studied Chinese politics and culture for decades says the message isn't getting through. Part of it, he says,could be due to a mistrust in government.

"For people who immigrated from mainland China, this could be inherited behaviour because after the Cultural Revolution there havebeen issues with mistrust with each other, within the communityand with the government," said political science professor Yves Tiberghien.

That mistrust can make social media rumours appearmore believable, particularly, he says, when they're reinforced byfamily in China surrounded by direnews about COVID-19.

"The stories are very real," says Tiberghien. "You talk to your mom, mom is stuck in quarantine [in China], you talk to dad and he is stuck and very grumpy ... whereas for other Canadians they may not have that connection."

He says thatcan make it appear as though Canadian officials are downplaying the situation.

No matter the level of fear, Yung is hoping her story will encourage everyone to think twice before sharing any rumours online.

"It might have been easy to send out, but it ruined a lot of lives," she said.