The Army's top officials on Thursday vehemently denied that active-duty soldiers would soon begin policing civilians within the U.S. amid the threat of the coronavirus, acknowledging persistent rumors that the federal government was poised to employ troops to enforce a national quarantine.

There is "no forecasting, no planning taking place, no mission set" for active-duty soldiers to assume a law enforcement role, Army Lt. Gen. Daniel Hokanson, director of the Army National Guard, told reporters at the Pentagon on Thursday afternoon alongside the service's top civilian and uniformed leaders. "None of that is under consideration at this time."

The public concern comes as local and state governments have ordered millions to remain home amid the continued threat from the spread of the virus, which causes a disease known as COVID-19. Rhode Island, New York and Washington, D.C., have activated some elements of their National Guard units to help with local issues, such as traffic control. Those guardsmen remain under the command of their local governments.

Coronavirus in NYC Causes Uncertainty View All 22 Images

However, no nationwide quarantine currently exists, let alone a declaration of martial law, which would allow the federal government to employ active-duty troops to police U.S.citizens – an action otherwise illegal under the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878.

"I hear unfounded rumors about National Guard troops supporting a nationwide quarantine," Air Force Gen. Joseph Lengyel, chief of the National Guard Bureau, told reporters earlier this week. "Let me be clear: There has been no such discussion."

Yet concern persists on social media. In one widely shared series of posts, video circulated on Twitter showing U.S. Army fighting vehicles and tanks being transported by rail.

Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman earlier this week dismissed such rumors following the widespread dissemination of a similar image , saying the train loaded with military vehicles was transporting the newly produced equipment from their manufacturer to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, as planned before the coronavirus outbreak.