Rumors of a travel ban in place and that police are stopping non-essential motorists out for a joy ride appear to be just that — rumors.

Both Chautauqua County Sheriff James Quattrone and Jamestown Police Chief Harry Snellings said they have encountered the misinformation on social media and have been asked questions regarding a purported travel ban and police spot-checks due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Yes, local officials have asked the public to limit all non-essential travel, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo did order all non-essential employees to work from home. But no, there is no shelter-in-place or travel ban, and police are not stopping drivers to ask where they are going.

“The Jamestown Police Department is not stopping anyone for the sole purpose of determining if they are essential personnel, nor are we asking,” Snellings said. “No agency is doing this. People continue to spread this rumor based on inaccurate and, quiet frankly, false information posted on social media.”

Added Quattrone when contacted this week: “Our dispatch has been receiving many calls from people asking about travel bans and asking if people needed to have letters saying they are going to essential work places.”

“We continue to stress no unnecessary travel, but there is no travel ban.”

“We continue to hear about people getting stopped and the police requesting their paperwork saying they are essential workers,” he continued, “but we have not been given any names of those individuals and we are unaware of any police agency doing this.”

It’s unclear where the rumors began, but it’s possible some residents are confusing the constant, often fluid information regarding COVID-19 guidelines being issued on the local, state and federal levels.

And the rumors aren’t specific to Chautauqua County. Trooper James O’Callaghan, Troop A public information officer for the New York State Police, said he’s not sure where the travel ban rumor started, but also confirmed troopers are not stopping drivers anywhere across the state to ask where they were going.

“That’s totally untrue,” O’Callaghan said, noting that he has received multiple calls on the subject. “I don’t know if it started as a social media post, but there’s no travel ban, so right there you know this isn’t true.”

O’Callaghan said the more people go out to places such as grocery stores the potential to be exposed to the virus increases. “If you can stay home, stay home for you and your family,” he said.

States of emergency have been declared in New York state, in the county and in Jamestown, among elsewhere. Mayor Eddie Sundquist told The Post-Journal on March 18 that declaring a local state of emergency gave the city more resources at its disposal, and allowed local officials to impose some restrictions, such as closing streets and issuing a curfew if extreme steps were necessary to battle the virus.

However, the majority of current restrictions in place, Sundquist noted, were the ones handed down by Cuomo — the banning of all gatherings in public and limiting who can go into work. The city did close public access to playgrounds and basketball courts, but only after the state issued similar orders at its parks a week earlier.

“There has been no curfew put into effect in the city of Jamestown,” Snellings stressed. “We have received multiple calls about that. Again, another false rumor.”

Meanwhile, Quattrone said the rumors have tied up county 911 dispatchers.

“These calls and misinformation are taking up valuable time from other needed duties and potentially putting people at risk when our emergency dispatchers are tied up answering these telephone calls,” he said. “Too often this information is getting spread with no factual basis.”