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And yesterday in the Senate, AG Peyrefitte announced that the state will no longer tolerate the spreading of any rumors related to COVID-19 which causes unnecessary public panic. Well tonight, one person who has been charged is a social media panic spreader.  In a first of its kind arrest, 7News has learned that 25 year old Erika Yanira Vargas from Orange Walk has been charged for the offence of "Spreading False Newsâ€￾.

That’s after she posted this bogus report on her page on Monday.  The language is terrible and it’s not easy to read, but it talks about quote, a “next case in San Joseâ€￾ involving an entire family.  Presumably a case of COVID-19.

And while you might think she would be charged for bad grammar, Police say the post went viral and created a public alarm in San Jose Village, and so, Vargas has become the first person charged for the offence of "Spreading False Newsâ€￾.

A police press release a few weeks ago warned that noted that a person who “maliciously fabricated or knowingly spreads abroad or publishes, whether by writing or by word of mouth or otherwise, any false news or false report tending to create or foster public alarm or to produce public detriment;â€￾ is guilty of a misdemeanour.