We’re Tracking How Every State Is Responding to the Coronavirus

The speed and scale of official action varies widely.

This article was last updated on March 27.

As of March 17, coronavirus cases have been officially reported in all 50 states. State governments’ responses to the pandemic have rolled out at different speeds and on a range of scales. While all states have declared a state of emergency and nearly all have closed schools, limits on public gatherings and non-essential businesses are not universal. These maps, built with data from the National Governor’s Association, American Enterprise Institute, and Mother Jones‘ own research, track actions taken at the state level to address the spread of the coronavirus.

We will update these maps as new data becomes available.

All 50 states, Puerto Rico, and Washington, DC, have declared a state of emergency.

Declaring a state of emergency means different things in different states. For example, California’s emergency declaration includes provisions to prevent price gouging and allow out-of-state health care workers to work in the state, while Idaho’s declaration gives the governor flexibility to expedite the purchase of emergency supplies.

More than a dozen states have told residents to stay home… 

Stay-at-home orders vary: Georgia’s is for the medically fragile only; Oklahoma’s is for vulnerable populations only and puts a 10-person limit on gatherings for all others; Pennsylvania’s is for 8 counties; Nebraska’s limits apply to seven counties; Florida has issued stay-at-home guidance for people over 65 years old.

…but limits on social gatherings vary widely.

Several states have asked residents to stay at home and minimize non-essential movement outside, while some states have tried to encourage social distancing with limits on the maximum size of public gatherings.

Most states have closed schools

Nine states have postponed primary elections.

Nine states and Puerto Rico have postponed their upcoming primary elections, mostly to June. Alaska, Wyoming and Hawaii are still going forward with primaries scheduled for April 4, but have said they’re closely monitoring the situation.

Many states have required non-essential businesses to close.

States define non-essential businesses differently. In Missouri, only casinos have been asked to shut down. In Florida, gyms have been asked to shut down. In Arizona and Oklahoma, non-essential businesses are closed only in counties with coronavirus cases. In addition to closing non-essential businesses, many states prohibit workers to come into work at a non-essential business, encouraging telecommuting. 

A majority of states have put limits on restaurants and bars

More than half of all states have ordered restaurants and bars to end in-dining services. Takeout and delivery services are still allowed.

A few states have asked residents to postpone elective surgeries.

States including Ohio and Texas have seized the opportunity to classify abortions as elective procedures. 

A majority of states have restricted out-of-state travel for state employees.

Many states have asked state employees to restrict domestic and international work-related travel. 

Some states have waived fees for coronavirus testing.

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate