Coronavirus: White House forced to deny national shutdown rumours as it begins mandating reporter temperature checks

Stocks tumble again after Trump contradicts public health team — once again

With sports leagues dormant and bars beginning to close to restrict customers, the White House National Security Council on Monday was forced to deny the country is in a coast-to-coast coronavirus lockdown.

The District of Columbia government on Sunday shut down seating at bars and mandated customers sit six feet apart. Illinois closed all bars and restaurants for two weeks.

At a grocery store in the Van Ness area in northwest Washington, DC, cashiers on Sunday were telling customers the store would not be restocked and they should "get what you can now," only for a manager to clarify that the location had just gotten a load of frozen foods.

At the White House, officials implemented a surreal policy of taking reporters' temperatures. The officials said all persons who are scheduled to come in contact with Donald Trump or Mike Pence would be subjected to a non-contact temperature check — staff, reporters and others alike.

One journalist was turned away on Saturday after recording a temperature above what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggests as an indicator for coronavirus.

Trading was suspended Monday morning on Wall Street for the third time in two weeks after the S&P 500 index took another dive amid virus worries. The latest decline came after the president on Sunday claimed "total control" over the virus outbreak while his top public health officials warned the outbreak will get much worse.

The country was on edge to the point online rumours began swirling about a national quarantine.

The White House moved to tamp down such fears, taking to Twitter to quell a text message scam.

"Text message rumors of a national #quarantine are FAKE," the NSC tweeted on Monday. "There is no national lockdown. @CDCgov has and will continue to post the latest guidance on #COVID19. #coronavirus"

The vice president and other members of the White House's coronavirus task force are set to brief reporters at 3.30pm amid what appears another rocky day for the US economy.