David and Victoria Beckham are reportedly “petrified they might be super-spreaders” after secretly contracting coronavirus in early March and giving it to a number of people on their staff.

According to The Sun, the Beckhams were in Miami on March 1 to support David’s soccer club Inter Miami. An anonymous friend told the outlet, “They attended a couple of swanky networking events as David had promotional duties, and were shaking hands and kissing fans and various club dignitaries. They then flew back to London, and were whisked straight to their Cotswolds mansion.” The couple returned to their country estate to celebrate their eldest son Brooklyn‘s 21st birthday on March 6 before returning to Miami again where they started to come down with coronavirus symptoms.

“It was an absolute nightmare scenario,” the source continued. “David started to feel ill and then Victoria developed a sore throat and high temperature. At the same time, several of their team including drivers, bodyguards and assistants fell ill—a couple of them very badly so. Victoria really panicked and made the whole family quarantine rigidly for more than two weeks. She was utterly petrified they might be super-spreaders, and did all she could to minimize all future risk. Not only was she poorly in bed, she was also completely panicked. It was a rough few weeks.”

The friend also noted that as an act of contrition, “David and Victoria have done their utmost during the pandemic to help others, and make up for traveling so early into the crisis,” reportedly sending “care packages” to at least two staff members who were particularly negatively impacted by the illness.

However, the health scare and close brush with social pariahdom didn’t put the Beckhams off traveling entirely as, after making a full recovery, they got a swab and antibody test before jetting off to Greece and Italy for a much-needed vacation.

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