Along with expanding testing and tracing, governors across the country are highlighting the importance of using science and advice from health officials rather than politics to choose when to reopen the economy.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey
issued a stay-at-home order set to expire on April 30.
Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth
announced the formation of a task force to reopen the state’s economy. A plan will be presented to Ivey by April 17, he said.
“We have an emergency small business task force and we have a subcommittee that’s going to have recommendations … that’s going to look at all of the nonessential businesses plus any business that’s been impacted, talking about how we can get them back open for business May 1st,”
Ainsworth said.
The state will find the best way to ease restrictions on restaurants and stores while
continuing to incorporate social distancing needs.
When the economy starts to open up, Ivey said during a Monday press briefing it will be a slow process over time, “segment by segment or region by region.”
Alaska
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy ordered its residents to
stay at home unless absolutely necessary, starting March 28, and will remain in effect until rescinded.
Dunleavy plans on reopening the state as early as next week.
“We’re constantly checking the pulse of this whole pandemic to see when we can open things up,” Dunleavy said during the latest Covid-19 Alaska press conference on Friday.
Since testing availability has increased, the governor is confident that if Alaska can “get the right tools in the right time,” the state will be a “model of success.”
Arizona
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey
issued a stay-at-home order which will expire on April 30 unless extended.
“I want to get the economy moving and people back to work as soon as possible — when it is safe and healthy for people to do so,” Ducey said on
Twitter on Monday.
The governor emphasized the importance of maintaining social distancing and continuing to make “responsible choices.”
“It’s critical that we keep those efforts up as we plan for the future and a time when we can begin to return some normalcy to people’s lives,” Ducey said.
Arkansas
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson has yet to issue a stay-at-home order to his citizens as a way to limit the spread of coronavirus nationwide.
“We want to take the long-term approach to this and you’re not going to win simply by a lockdown,” Hutchinson
explained to CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday, adding: “There’s a lot of hope and optimism this Easter that our tough time is behind and we’re going to be getting better.”
Schools will be
closed for the rest of the academic term. Fitness centers, bars, restaurants and other public spaces are closed until further notice.
California
California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a stay-at-home order on March 19 that has no set end date.
Newsom announced a joint
Western States Pact with Oregon Governor Kate Brown and Washington Governor Jay Inslee on April 13.
“Health outcomes and science — not politics — will guide these decisions” to reopen the states, according to a joint statement from the governors.
Newsom
outlined a framework for reopening the economy in the Golden State on Tuesday that he said was predicated on the state’s ability to do six things: expand testing to identify and isolate the infected, maintain vigilance to protect seniors and high risk individuals, be able to meet future surges in hospitals with a “myriad of protective gear,” continue to collaborate with academia on therapies and treatments, redraw regulations to ensure continued physical distancing at businesses and schools and develop new enforcement mechanisms to allow the state to pull back and reinstate stay-at-home orders.
“I know you want the timeline, but we can’t get ahead of ourselves and dream of regretting. Let’s not make the mistake of pulling the plug too early, as much as we want to,” Newsom said.
Colorado
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis
extended the state’s stay-at-home order, which now remains in effect until April 26.
“I can’t stress enough the importance of staying home during these next few weeks,” Polis said in a
news release. “We have to keep this up for a little while longer in order to return to a level of normalcy in our economy and our society.”
The governor said he hoped the state would be able to open up on April 26 when the stay at home order expires as long as residents are staying home and wearing masks when they go out. However, he stressed that opening in early May did not mean “things are going to go back to how they were in terms of 60,000 people in a stadium (or) a busy nightclub.”
Polis also said he would welcome a regional or national approach to a time on when to reopen.
Connecticut
Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont
extended the mandatory shutdown in the state until May 20.
Connecticut has joined a coalition with the Northeastern states of New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Rhode Island and Massachusetts to coordinate the reopening of the economy, according to a news
release from New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s office.
Lamont said he believed it would take at least another month before the state could make a decision on how and when to open things back up and emphasized “this is no time to relax.”
Delaware
Delaware Gov. John Carney
issued a statewide stay-at-home order that will remain until May 15 or until the “public health threat is eliminated.”
Delaware has joined a coalition with the Northeastern states of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island to coordinate the reopening of the economy, according to a
press release from NY Governor Andrew Cuomo’s office.
Florida
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued a stay-at-home order for Floridians until April 30.
The
governor did not close down the state’s beaches as spring breakers partied last month, has not approved retroactive unemployment benefits for those who have lost their jobs and continues to push hydroxychloroquine, a still unproven drug to treat coronavirus.
DeSantis is
considering re-opening schools in the state, falsely claiming the coronavirus hasn’t killed anyone under 25.
Georgia
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp
issued a statewide shelter-in-place order that runs until April 30. The governor also extended the public health emergency through May 13. All K-12 public schools will remain closed through the end of the school year.
Kemp emphasized the importance of expanding testing before reopening the state.
“We’re a little behind the curve from when our peak is going to be to other states around the country,” Kemp said during Monday’s press briefing. “That is certainly a day I am ready for, but I think today specifically we have been focused on the surge capacity, ramping up testing to do more than we’re doing.”
Hawaii
Hawaii Gov. David Ige issued a stay-at-home order for Hawaii residents which will last through at least April 30.
Ige has not made any statements on reopening Hawaii at this point in time.
Idaho
Idaho Gov. Brad Little issued a stay at home order on March 25 and an extreme emergency declaration, which will remain in effect until April 15 unless extended.
“Governor Little and public health officials will evaluate later whether to extend the order past 21 days,” the
press release about the stay at home order said.
“Nobody wants to open up the economy more than I do, so that’s our goal,” Little said, according to
KTVB Idaho.
“What I don’t want to have is open it up and then have us go back to what we were worried about.”
Illinois
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker issued a stay-at-home order for the entire state which
extends through at least April 30.
Pritzker said during a
press briefing Monday that he believes the current state in Illinois has been enough to slowly start lifting shelter-in-place orders so that some industry workers can go back to work.
Although there is no clear time line, he hopes that restarting production will go “industry by industry, and maybe company by company.”
Indiana
Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb
issued a stay-at-home order for the state through April 20, but it may be extended.
While Holcomb hopes loosen up restrictions, he emphasized that he is still encouraging people to continue staying home and practicing social distancing.
“We have managed our resources well and we find ourselves in a position to where we can care for those in need,” Holcomb said during the
press briefing on Monday. “What we don’t want to do is prematurely loosen up.”
Holcomb mentioned the “new normal” after restrictions are loosened may include new measures such as taking employees temperature at work, wearing masks, and physical distancing.
Iowa
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds has not declared a stay-at-home order. Reynolds
issued a State of Public Health Disaster Emergency on March 17, ordering all nonessential businesses to close until April 30.
The governor formed an Iowa economic recovery task force consisting of state leaders and private business leaders and announced plans to discuss with education leaders about the possibility of reopening schools.
“We will recover. I want to open up this state as soon as we can, but I want to do it in a responsible manner,” Reynolds said
Monday. “I don’t want to open it up just to have to shut things back down again. We want to be very consistent and have to rely on some data to do that.”
Kansas
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly
issued a stay-at-home order which will remain in effect until April 19.
The governor said during a
press briefing on Friday that she is considering extending the order and will address it this week.
“My guess is, yes we will extend it but we don’t know the details right now,” Kelly said.
Kentucky
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear
issued a “Healthy at Home” order on March 25 that will be in effect indefinitely.
Beshear has not made decision on when to reopen the state. He has
recommended that school districts statewide extend the suspension of in-person classes until at least May 1. Though he said a decision would be made next week, at a press conference Tuesday, Beshear said, “schools should at least prepare for plans of not being open for the rest of the year.”
During a
press conference in late March, Beshear said he would base his decision for reopening the state on “hard data and facts” and would be guided by “Dr. Fauci” and other health professionals.
Louisiana
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards extended the state’s stay-at-home order through April 30.
Edwards said he would announce later this week an economic resiliency recovery task force that will advise on what the next steps the state should take.
“This is going to be done in some sort of a transition and we’re going to be doing it that way here in Louisiana,” Edwards said during Monday’s press briefing. “I cannot tell you exactly what that’s going to look like yet, but we will be working really hard with all of the experts to get that figured out. “
Maine
Maine Gov. Janet Mills
issued a “Stay Healthy at Home” executive order through at least April 30. Mills
extended the state’s civil state of emergency until May 15.
“We are in the midst of one of the greatest public health crises this world has seen in more than a century,” Mills said in a
news release. “This virus will continue to sicken people across our state; our cases will only grow, and more people will die. I say this to be direct, to be as honest with you as I can. Because saving lives will depend on us.”
Mills said she wished she didn’t have to extend the state of emergency, but “the continued spread of the virus demands a sustained response by the State.”
Maryland
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan
issued a statewide stay-at-home order on March 30. There is no current potential end date.
The governor said during his appearance on CNN Newsroom on Monday that the state is discussing ways to safely reopening the state with health officials, and that his priority is to save lives, not the economy.
“We’ve got to listen to the doctors and scientists,” Hogan said. “We’ve also got to be concerned about people getting the help they need and getting on track, but doing so in a gradual and safe manner when it’s really the right time to do it.”
Hogan
said a cooperation amongst other governors on when to reopen the states would be a “good idea.”
Massachusetts
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker
issued an emergency order requiring all nonessential businesses to close facilities until May 4.
Massachusetts has joined a coalition with the Northeastern states of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Rhode Island to coordinate the reopening of the economy, according to a
press release from NY Governor Andrew Cuomo’s office.
Baker told residents of his state that officials have begun conversations around reopening the state but there’s still a lot of work that needs to be done before a plan is set into motion.
The state will need to have testing, tracing, isolation and quarantine procedures in place to reopen, the governor said.
“I think it’s going to be really important that we all pay attention to what the others are up to, and to make sure that nobody does anything that puts somebody in a really bad spot, because they just weren’t thinking about what that impact was going to be on some other part of the Northeastern part of the US,” he said.
Michigan
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer
extended the state’s stay-at-home order through April 30.
Whitmer said during Monday’s press briefing that reopening the state’s economy will be based on a “data-driven approach based on facts, based on science, based on recommendations from experts.”
The four factors the governor will take into consideration before reopening Michigan include a sustained reduction in cases, expanded testing and tracing capabilities, sufficient healthcare capacity, and the best practices for the workplace.
Minnesota
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz
extended the state’s stay-at-home order through May 3.
He also signed an executive order extending the peacetime emergency for an additional 30 days until May 13.
Walz emphasized the importance of expanding testing and tracing the spread of the virus before opening the state.
The governor’s plan to open up the economy is to “test, we have to do contact tracing, and we have to isolate the people who need to be isolated, and this has to be on a massive scale,” Walz said.
Mississippi
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves issued a shelter-in-place order which expires on April 20. The governor announced on Tuesday that schools will remain closed for the rest of the semester.
Reeves said the state needed to open things back up as quickly and as responsibly as possible.
“We know that we will not be able to return to our typical lives right away,” Reeves said during Monday’s press briefing.
“There are still more sacrifices to be made. We do want to look ahead to opening things up, I know that there are many Mississippians whose lives and livelihoods rely on our ability to get them back to work in a responsible way.”
Missouri
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson
issued a statewide “Stay Home Missouri” order through April 24. Parson has made no plans to reopen the state.
Montana
Montana Gov. Steve Bullock extended the state’s stay-at-home order through April 24.
Bullock held a governor’s coronavirus task force
tele-town hall for Montanans on Monday in which he said following the state’s guidelines will allow the state to reopen sooner rather than later.
Bullock said he does not know when the stay at home order will be lifted and that while he doesn’t “want to have it in place any longer than what’s necessary,” he is more concerned about completely reopening the state and jeopardizing the work that has been done.
Nebraska
Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts
issued the “21 Days to Stay Home and Stay Healthy” campaign on April 10. Ricketts
ordered that all hair salons, tattoo parlors and strip clubs be closed through May 31.
Nebraska is one of the states that has not issued a stay-at-home order to limit the spread of coronavirus nationwide. Ricketts has not made any plans to reopen the state.
The state’s campaign is based on six rules: staying home, socially distancing at work, shopping alone and only once a week, helping kids social distance, helping seniors stay at home and exercising at home.
Nevada
Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak formally
issued a stay-at-home order which will last until April 30.
When asked about how he’d make his decision to reopen the economy, Sisolak said “positive testing is important but it’s not my number one parameter.”
“The things that I look at on a daily basis are hospitalizations, intensive care unit hospitalizations, ventilator usage, and people who pass,” Sisolak added.
New Hampshire
New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu
issued a stay-at-home order until May 4.
Sununu
told reporters in late March he wants to open the economy as soon as possible, but would not prioritize it over the health of his citizens.
“What we are not going to do is overly accelerate or loosen regulations just for the sake of the economy at the risk of public health,” Sununu said.
New Jersey
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy
issued a stay-at-home order on March 21 which has no specific end date.
New Jersey has joined a coalition with the Northeastern states of New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Rhode Island and Massachusetts to coordinate the reopening of the economy, according to a
press release from NY Governor Andrew Cuomo’s office.
“No one has given more thought or is more eager to restart our economy than I am, but if we don’t get the sequencing right, we put more lives at risk. The only path to a sustainable economic recovery is through a strong healthcare recovery,” Murphy said in a
news release.
“A coordinated, regional approach, informed by a multi-state council of experts, will help us avoid a major setback with potentially disastrous consequences.”
New Mexico
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham
extended the state’s emergency order to April 30.
The governor said she would do “what’s best for New Mexico” but won’t be able to find out when the state could reopen without expanding testing capabilities.
“If we had better national strategies and universal testing and software-based contract tracing, then we could really figure out when opening makes sense and we could start to do that in the country,” Grisham
said.
The governor added that the state has been looking at different recovery options but won’t take any actions until the peak occurs.
New York
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo
issued a “New York State on PAUSE” executive order which took effect on March 22. Schools and nonessential businesses are
ordered to stay closed until April 29.
New York has joined a coalition with the Northeastern states of New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Rhode Island and Massachusetts to coordinate the reopening of the economy, according to a
press release from NY Governor Andrew Cuomo’s office.
The governor has not come to any decision on when businesses will reopen and said he rejected “any elected official or any expert who says I can tell you what’s going to happen four weeks from today.”
North Carolina
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper
issued a stay-at-home order for the state effective until April 29.
The governor said that the more people adhere to social distancing requirements in April, the sooner the state will loosen restrictions.
“We have a team examining how North Carolina can emerge with the right practices in place to keep us healthy and strong and ready to jump start our economy,” Cooper said in Monday’s
press briefing.“We’re considering the most effective ways to modify executive orders to help boost the economy while continuing to prevent our hospitals from being overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients.”
North Dakota
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum has only shut down schools, restaurants, fitness centers, movie theaters and salons. Burgum
declared a state of emergency on March 13.
North Dakota is one of the states that has yet to issue a stay-at-home order to limit the spread of coronavirus nationwide.
Burgum has not discussed fully reopening closed business and schools.
Ohio
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine
issued a statewide stay-at-home order lasting which will remain in place until May 1.
“I would not be making these decisions if it wasn’t a matter of life and death,” DeWine said in a
news release. “We have to keep this monster down. It’s not dead — it’s very much alive.”
Along with loosening restrictions, DeWine told CNN that citizens would have to feel confident about going out without being afraid and the only way to reach that point was to significantly expand testing.
Oklahoma
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt has issued a statewide “
Safer at Home” order for adults over the age of 65 and other vulnerable residents until April 30.
Stitt said the state would have to ease into reopening the economy.
Oregon
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown issued an
executive order directing Oregonians to stay at home on March 23 that “remains in effect until ended by the Governor.”
Brown
announced a joint Western States Pact with California Governor Gavin Newsom and Washington Governor Jay Inslee on April 13.
In terms of the timeline for reopening the states, the statement says the state will “need to see a decline in the rate of spread of the virus before large-scale reopening, and we will be working in coordination to identify the best metrics to guide this.”
Brown said she would not ease restrictions before seeing five components in place: declining growth rate of active vases, sufficient personal protective equipment, surge capacity in hospitals, increased test capacity, contact tracing and isolating positive cases, and strategies to protect vulnerable communities.
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania Gov. Tim Wolf
issued stay-at-home orders across the state until April 30.
Pennsylvania has joined a coalition with the Northeastern states of New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Delaware, Rhode Island and Massachusetts to coordinate the reopening of the economy, according to a
press release from NY Governor Andrew Cuomo’s office.
“Every time we talk about opening something up, we’re going to be prolonging this phase,” Wolf
told reporters on Friday.
“If it’s not in the best interests of keeping people safe, I’m not going to go along with it.”
Rhode Island
Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo issued an emergency declaration
extending the state’s stay-at-home order to last until May 8.
Rhode Island has joined a coalition with the Northeastern states of New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts to coordinate the reopening of the economy, according to a
press release from NY Governor Andrew Cuomo’s office.
To reopen the state, Raimondo said there would need to be advanced
testing and contact tracing put in place.
“It is clear that what you’re doing is working,”
Raimondo said, referring to residents staying at home. “It’s keeping you safer. It’s keeping Rhode Islanders safer. And quite frankly it’s making it so I can really start thinking about reopening this economy sooner rather than later.”
South Carolina
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster
extended his previous “State of Emergency” executive order through at least April 27.
“We want to get all these businesses going back as soon as we can,” McMaster said during Monday’s press briefing.
“And to that end, we will be announcing before long, a plan, a rejuvenation plan, a revitalization plan in order to get our economy started again.”
South Dakota
South Dakota Gov. Kristi L. Noem has
refused to issue a stay-at-home order to limit the spread of coronavirus nationwide although the state’s Covid-19 cases are spiking.
Tennessee
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee extended the state’s stay-at-home order until April 30.
Lee said the state would begin reopening the economy in May.
“It’ll be smart, it’ll be safe, it’ll be measured but we do not have a definitive decision on what those steps will be yet,” Lee said during Monday’s press briefing.
Texas
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott
ordered all Texans to stay home through April 30.
The governor said during Monday’s press briefing that only businesses “that will have minimal or zero impact” on the spread of the coronavirus will be the first to open up.
“This is not going to be a rush the gates everybody is able to suddenly reopen all at once,” Abbott said. “We have to understand that we must reopen in a way in which we are able to stimulate the economy while at the very same time ensuring that we contain the spread of COVID-19.”
Abbott will outline strategies to begin the process of reopening the economy later in the week, he said.
Utah
Utah Gov. Gary Herbert
extended the state’s “Stay Safe, Stay Home” directive through May 1. Schools will be closed for the remainder of the year.
Utah is one of the states that has yet to issue a stay-at-home order to limit the spread of coronavirus nationwide.
Herbert also issued an executive order Thursday
requiring adults entering the state to disclose their travel plans.
“We are seeing encouraging evidence that our efforts to stay home are making a difference,” Herbert said in a
news release.
“We cannot let up on these measures. Working together, we can slow the spread of coronavirus, alleviate the stress on our health systems, and get Utahns back to work and to a level of normalcy more quickly.”
Herbert said the state is making plans for how and when restrictions will be lifted, but continued to urge citizens to stay home.
Vermont
Vermont Gov. Gov. Phil Scott
issued a “Stay Home, Stay Safe” order which has been extended until May 15.
“It didn’t take federal action to spur us into action and it’s not going to be the federal government that’s gong to determine when we take appropriate steps here in Vermont,” Scott said during Monday’s press conference.
Scott said reopening the state would take time, but the priority was listening to experts and continuing to save lives by asking people to stay home.
“We are making big sacrifices to save lives, but we cannot let our foot off the gas just yet,” Scott said in a
news release. “We will continue to watch the trends, and as soon as the data shows a downward trend, we can open the spigot, a quarter turn at a time, to get folks back to work in a way that’s responsible and safe.”
Virginia
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam
issued a stay-at-home order effective until June 10.
“We are in a public health crisis, and we need everyone to take this seriously and act responsibly,” Northam said in a
news release. “Our message to Virginians is clear: stay home.”
Northam has
made it clear that the state must make decisions based on “science, public health expertise, and data,” Secretary of Health and Human Resources Daniel Carey said.
Washington
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee
extended Washignton’s stay-at-home order until May 4, saying “We are yet to see the full toll of this virus in our state and the modeling we’ve seen could be much worse if we don’t continue what we’re doing to slow the spread.”
Inslee announced a joint Western States Pact with California Governor Gavin Newsom and Oregon Governor Kate Brown on April 13th.
Before deciding on when to reopen the state, Inslee said during an interview with Katy Tur on MSNBC that there would need to be an “enormous expansions” of coronavirus testing capabilities, a way to trace the spread in communities, and “for the president to recognize that these decisions really are going to be made by governors.”
West Virginia
West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice
issued a stay-at-home order until further notice.
“That curve is the curve we’re looking for to be able to look at the possibility of backing things off and going forward. We’re not there yet,” Justice said during his briefing on Monday.
Despite numbers suggesting that the state is starting to do better, Justice said it wasn’t time to relax social distancing measures or asking people to stop staying home.
“I’m proud of each and every one of you so keep following the guidelines, stay at home, social distance, practice good hygiene and when the time comes, and it will, we’ll cross the finish line together as West Virginians,” Justice said in a
news release.
Wisconsin
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers
issued a “Safer at Home” order that prohibits all nonessential travel which will remain until April 24.
The governor said the state needs to find a way to expand testing and contact tracing, especially in urban areas, before opening back up.
“In order for us to get to a place that’s maybe less restrictive in the state, our public health systems are going to have to look different. We are going to need more testing,” Evers said during Monday’s
press briefing.Wyoming
Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon submitted a request asking for a federal disaster declaration for Wyoming on April 9. Wyoming is one of the states without a stay-at-home order.
“Though Wyoming has not reached the dire situations of some states, this declaration will help us to prepare and mobilize resources when we need them,” Governor Gordon said in a
news release. “I look forward to a swift response to our request from the federal government.”
Gordon
extended statewide public health orders through April 30 and issued a directive requiring travelers to quarantine for 14 days.
CNN’s Dylan Wells, Angie Trindade, Cat Gloria, Ganesh Setty, Yahya Abou-Ghazala and Christina Maxouris contributed to this report.
