On Monday, someone called in with a super-mega-explosive news tip that turned out to be completely false. "I live with somebody who works for Harborview [Medical Center] in a sensitive occupation," a woman said. She told me the director of environmental services at the center, whom she identified correctly by name—lending the tip a hint of credibility—had communicated to the staff that the hospital was poised to receive its first Ebola patient. "He's extremely vulnerable," the caller said of her roommate, audibly on the verge of tears.

She continued: "I feel like all we know is what we’re being allowed to know."

A few hours later, the tipper called back to apologize because she was totally wrong. Which I already knew, because by that time I had spoken with Meredith Li-Vollmer, a spokesperson for Seattle-King County Public Health. "We have not heard that at all," Li-Vollmer told me. "There are no imminent plans to bring any patients in."

Li-Vollmer and officials at Seattle-King County Public Health would have been in the know if there were such plans, she said. Plus, her office would get to work straightaway notifying the public of such a decision—for public health reasons—rather than hiding it.

Yes, Harborview has volunteered to treat frontline workers who contract Ebola while trying to stem the spread of the disease in West Africa. But before any such patients arrive, the State Department will have to ask Harborview to take them in, according to Li-Vollmer. Harborview would evaluate its capacity at that time and either accept or decline.

I'm not the only one getting bogus information about Ebola patients already being in the city. Seattle-King County Public Health officials have also heard these rumors circulating recently. "People have been jumpy," Li-Vollmer said. Which is understandable. We shouldn't take everything the CDC and public health officials say on blind faith, of course. But critical thinking should go in all directions. If you feel yourself coming up with conspiracy theories and going nuts about it, take some deep breaths and chill.

"The risk of an outbreak in the United States is very small," says Seattle-King County Public Health in its online fact sheet. "If an infected person arrives in King County, our health system is prepared to respond and limit spread of the disease."