1 in 4 Americans asked to stay home: What the new coronavirus restrictions mean

One in four Americans is being asked to stay home in an effort to curb the coronavirus pandemic.

In a wide-ranging executive order aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus, Gov. Andrew Cuomo told New Yorkers on Friday to stay home as much as possible and he enacted strict new rules for businesses, gatherings and people over 70 and those with underlying illnesses.

“These provisions will be enforced,” the governor said at a briefing in Albany. “These are not helpful hints.”

Other governors soon followed suit: Gov. Ned Lamont of Connecticut and Gov. J.B. Pritzker of Illinois issued similar orders and Gov. Philip Murphy of New Jersey said he would do the same on Saturday.

The restrictions come a day after Gov. Gavin Newsom of California announced a sweeping stay-at-home order for the entire state, where a similar order was issued for several Bay Area counties earlier in the week.

Here’s what we know about the rules so far.

What’s the gist of each executive order?

As the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in each state rises, the governors for California, Connecticut and New York have started putting stricter provisions into place, while still keeping essential services running.

“Look, society has to function,” Cuomo said Friday.

In each case, state residents are being told to stay indoors as much as possible, and what are considered nonessential businesses are required to keep all workers at home.

Cuomo emphasized on Friday that public transportation and roadways would not be shut.

Broadly speaking, these are the kinds of businesses that could be deemed essential:

— grocers, restaurants offering takeout or delivery, convenience stores, liquor stores, hardware stores, warehouses and distributors

— health care providers and pharmacies

— gas stations, banks, laundromats and dry cleaners

— child care providers

— animal shelters and veterinary services

— utilities, telecommunications and transportation providers

— auto repair, plumbers and other skilled contractors, construction companies and many kinds of manufacturers

— funeral homes, crematories and cemeteries

States are also adopting special rules to protect older residents and those with compromised immune systems. Newsom said earlier this week that people over 65 and those with underlying medical conditions should stay home, though it was not clear whether the newer rules preempted previous guidance. Cuomo put restrictions on people 70 and older.

Do the restrictions vary by state?

Not much.

The new restrictions for New York state resemble those enacted by California, and those in Connecticut and New Jersey probably will as well. Lamont offered an initial list of which businesses must close in Connecticut that was similar to New York’s, and he said additional guidance would come shortly.

It was unclear how the guidance would be enforced, but the idea was the same: People should generally stay home unless they have an urgent need to go outside or for certain allowable purposes.

Newsom ordered his state’s 40 million residents to stay home, with essential businesses like groceries stores, pharmacies and banks exempt from the shutdown. He also said Californians could leave their homes to take walks and buy groceries, but emphasized that they should stay 6 feet apart.

“This is not a permanent state, this is a moment in time,” he said. “We will look back at these decisions as pivotal.”

Can I go outside?

Cuomo also acknowledged that people would need to go outside for their physical and mental health.

As in California, healthy people in New York can generally can leave their homes for groceries and medicines, and to exercise and take walks, as long as they keep 6 feet away from others.

New Yorkers over 70 and those with underlying medical conditions can go outside, but only for solitary exercises like hiking and running. They must also wear masks if they are in the company of others.

“This is not life as usual,” Cuomo said. “Accept it and realize it and deal with it.”

Are these ‘shelter-in-place’ orders?

In New York at least, Cuomo was firm in dismissing the idea that his new orders amounted to asking New Yorkers to “shelter in place.”

“Words matter,” he said, adding that the term evoked active shooter situations and nuclear war. Instead, he described the actions as a way of “closing the valve,” or slowing an outbreak that threatens to strain the state’s hospitals.

Cuomo has resisted calls for a shelter-in-place order, even as Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York City pushed for one over the last few days. The mayor has spoken about a potential shutdown of the city in stark terms, comparing the economic fallout that would follow to the Great Depression. And officials for seven counties in California’s Bay Area used the term when they instructed residents to stay home on Monday.

Although Cuomo did not go that far on Friday, he did not shy away from the seriousness of the new provisions.

“This is the most drastic action we can take,” he said.