Saturday on Fox & Friends, Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf said of rumors regarding a national lock-down, “It’s simply not true. What we see is a lot of disinformation campaigns via text, via social media, so we want to make sure we refute those, knock those down…a lot of this information is just that:  Disinformation.”

He continued: “We want to make sure that individuals are getting information from trusted sources, so those are your state and federal officials, and we’re asking them not to spread this information around. So we have no plans for a national lock-down or a national quarantine, and again it’s just that—its disinformation.”

Close

The head of the National Guard at the national level, Gen. Joseph Lengyel tweeted, “I hear unfounded rumors about #NationalGuard troops supporting a nationwide quarantine. Let me be clear: There has been no such discussion.”

The DHS and the general have very good points. And as we have also said in previous articles, spreading irresponsible rumors hurts the national effort against the coronavirus and actually could indirectly kill Americans.

MORE NEWS: Coronavirus a gift to politicians

So, yes, military vehicles are in urban centers. But these are medical personnel, not infantry ready to trample the Constitution. There is no planned military coup on the president’s to do list for at least a week.

These days, we feel duty-bound to explain that the last line was a joke.

The states are another matter altogether. As we put stroke to keyboard, New Jersey has joined a growing list of states to include New York, California, and Illinois that are implementing a statewide lock-down/”shelter-in-place” orders.

This is within the power of state government. There are some states, most notably Texas, Idaho, and Oklahoma, who have decided that discretion is the better part of valor and have not undertaken lock-downs. In the coming weeks we will see who was correct.