Stay-at-home orders pile up

By Tuesday, the governors of Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, and West Virginia had told residents to stay home, while other states’ shelter-in-place orders announced over the weekend took effect. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said his state’s rate of COVID-19 infections is doubling about every three days. In just two weeks, New York might have 40,000 people needing intensive care, far more than the 3,000 ICU beds available, he said. More than 46,500 Americans have contracted the disease caused by the new coronavirus, and the death toll was climbing toward 600 on Tuesday, Johns Hopkins University reported.

When will the lockdown end? Though some states’ isolation measures extend into the early weeks of April, many are following expert advice suggesting social isolation may need to last longer. Some are concerned the economic toll may be worse than the disease in the end: President Donald Trump on Monday said he wants to open the country for business in weeks, not months. He said he won’t decide on future restrictions until the federal recommendation that businesses remain closed and people self-isolate for 15 days runs out on March 30.

Dig deeper: Read Leah Hickman’s report in Vitals about one industry that’s fighting to stay open despite the risk: abortion.