The White House has assured citizens that rumors being spread via text message claiming the government is due to implement a national quarantine in order to deal with the threat of the coronavirus are fake.

The National Security Council (NSC) issued a statement confirming that the texts suggesting that President Donald Trump will enforce a two-week period of national quarantine within the next 72 hours after evoking the Stafford Act are a hoax.

“There is no national lockdown,” the NSC tweeted. “The Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] has and will continue to post the latest guidance on COVID-19.”

The message, which claims to be from someone’s “friend in the military,” advises people to stock up on two weeks worth of supplies and to forward the text onto other people to warn them too.

It is unclear if there are any criminal investigations launched in connection to the hoax texts. The FBI has been contacted for comment.

Trump did invoke the Stafford Act on Friday, March 13, while declaring a national state of emergency over the coronavirus, but did not implement a national quarantine.

The 1998 act allows Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to coordinate the administration of disaster relief aid to state and local governments.

However, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, has warned that Americans are “going to have to hunker down significantly more” than they are doing to better protect themselves against the virus. A 14-day national shutdown could still be on the cards.

“Everybody has got to get involved in distancing themselves socially,” Fauci told NBC’s Meet the Press.

“Right now, myself personally, I wouldn’t go to a restaurant. I just wouldn’t because I don’t want to be in a crowded place…I don’t want to be in a situation where I’m going to be all of a sudden self-isolating for 14 days,” he added, referencing the maximum number of incubation days for those who have displayed possible symptoms of the coronavirus.

In its latest recommendations, the CDC said that all large or mass gatherings events with 50 people or more in attendance should be canceled for the next eight weeks to help stop the spread of the virus.

“Events of any size should only be continued if they can be carried out with adherence to guidelines for protecting vulnerable populations, hand hygiene, and social distancing. When feasible, organizers could modify events to be virtual,” the CDC said in a statement.

“This recommendation does not apply to the day to day operation of organizations such as schools, institutes of higher learning, or businesses. This recommendation is made in an attempt to reduce introduction of the virus into new communities and to slow the spread of infection in communities already affected by the virus.”

There have been more than 3,370 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the U.S., with 69 fatalities, according to Johns Hopkins University. A total of 12 patients have managed to recover from the virus.

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