The National Security Council issued a statement on Twitter late Sunday night knocking down rumors that a nationwide quarantine was going to be imposed over the Wuhan coronavirus based on the Stafford Act.
“Text message rumors of a national #quarantine are FAKE. There is no national lockdown. @CDCgov has and will continue to post the latest guidance on #COVID19. #coronavirus”
Text message rumors of a national #quarantine are FAKE. There is no national lockdown. @CDCgov has and will continue to post the latest guidance on #COVID19. #coronavirus
— NSC 45 Archived (@WHNSC45) March 16, 2020
The statement was almost immediately retweeted by Dan Scavino on his White House account.
https://twitter.com/Scavino45/status/1239399699502772225
The White House also refuted the rumors on Sunday night.
Text message rumors of a national #quarantine are FAKE. There is no national lockdown. @CDCgov has and will continue to post the latest guidance on #COVID19. #coronavirus
— NSC 45 Archived (@WHNSC45) March 16, 2020
Examples of the bogus rumor text message:
Someone sent me that Stafford Act hoax yesterday and I immediately saw it was fake
Whoever started this disinfo spread it so far the @WHNSC even had to slap it down
Interesting… pic.twitter.com/nVB31DJWfn
— Jack Posobiec 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) March 16, 2020
PSA
If you get this text, it’s fake. Also, people who take advantage of situations like this SUCK.#StaffordAct #Quarantine pic.twitter.com/PN4vtiRuwV
— Warrior Nation Gaming (@WarriorNationGm) March 16, 2020
https://twitter.com/goldietaylor/status/1239381927527960577
President Trump invoked the Stafford Act on Friday.
THE #STAFFORDACT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH #QUARANTINE!! STOP SPREADING MISINFORMATION!! https://t.co/OjDXHdIQjp
— Air Igloo (@liudacris2) March 16, 2020
Rumors have also been spreading online. Example, “Get ready for a 14 day quarantine and massive CDC testing in the next week. I am hearing they will announce it Tuesday, but it could be rolled out on a state by state basis. You heard it here first.”
https://twitter.com/MichaelCoudrey/status/1239382764635320321
And an audio clip rumor warning of a looming four-week quarantine.
This is Chris Browns Instagram story.
The person featured says her family works for the Pentagon, who advised her that the US Government is planning to announce a 1 week quarantine for the entire country.
Spread awareness — prepare before it’s too late.https://t.co/qQAft7Kfpt
— Mike Coudrey (@MichaelCoudrey) March 13, 2020
There will likely be localized containment zones and maybe local quarantines. Mostly there will be shutdowns of schools, businesses, sports and entertainment complexes lasting several weeks or one to two months in an effort to minimize spread of the virus among crowds of people in order to ‘flatten the curve’ of the growth rate of infections to keep hospitals and emergency services from being overwhelmed.
