PLATTSBURGH — Clinton County officials said a report Sunday that a large number of people sick with coronavirus had been shipped to the North Country was not true.

County Sheriff David Favro said he received reports that three buses full of people from New York City had arrived at a local hotel on Route 3 in the Town of Plattsburgh Saturday night.

He sent officers to investigate and they found out that was not the case, Favro said.

Deputies learned that two buses had arrived during the night, but each only had five or six people on them, and they were believed to be Canadians coming from Georgia and looking to return home.

Although the border with Canada is closed to many travelers, Canadian citizens can return home.

“We checked all the hotels on Route 3 and could not find anything to validate that (rumor),” Favro said.

“There were no large volumes of people.”

New York City is the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic with thousands testing positive for the virus.

Essex and Franklin Counties recently issued statements urging people from the New York City and surrounding areas to not venture north to second homes or rental units.

Local officials worry that an influx of people could rapidly spread the disease, which would overwhelm North Country medical facilities, which are not equipped to deal with large volumes of people.

Many of the larger hotels in the area are located on Route 3 in the Town of Plattsburgh, just outside the City of Plattsburgh.

Town Supervisor Michael Cashman said wild rumors are not helpful during the pandemic.

“I would strongly urge our community to go to vetted and cited news sources,” Cashman said.

“Too much is being shared via social media that is speculative and many times outright falsehoods.”