Talk:U.S. state and local government responses to the COVID-19 pandemic

Function of list

I created this article because I thought it would be useful to have a summary of information listed by state. If it's just going to be a list of links to go read other articles, it fails that purpose. -Jason A. Quest (talk) 18:40, 16 March 2020 (UTC)

JasonAQuest, You're right, each section should be a summary of the government response sections in U.S. state articles. We'll get there eventually... right now people are adding duplicate facts to the U.S. page, state pages, and pages like this one. All in good time, ---Another Believer _(Talk) 18:41, 16 March 2020 (UTC)

Wikidata-powered stay-at-home orders map

When I originally created File:COVID-19 outbreak USA stay-at-home order county map.svg, I based it on a map of counties since most stay-at-home orders up to that point had been at the county level and only a few were at the municipal level. However, since then, there's been an explosion of municipal-level orders too. The Navajo Nation, which is large enough to be visible on a national map, is also unrepresented. Unfortunately, I had no way to overlay these jurisdictions on the map, because I couldn't determine the exact projection used by the original base map. There are also some errors in the base map (consolidating a few counties) that I had to correct on the fly.

As an alternative, I've created a separate Wikidata item such as d:Q88597397 for each distinct stay-at-home order and an interactive map that queries Wikidata and OpenStreetMap for the boundaries to highlight. Clicking a jurisdiction shows the start and end dates, if known, as well as a link to the source. I think it's easier to maintain this map collaboratively, with proper version control and no need for Inkscape. Unfortunately, Wikimedia Maps uses Web Mercator projection, and the default style doesn't show any boundaries, making it more difficult for readers to orient themselves. Also, I have to keep incrementing a counter at the end of the query to update it every time I add a new item.

Despite the downsides, I think the dynamic map is more useful for this article, even if the SVG map has its place in articles that are less focused on the government response. I'll keep updating both maps, but if no one objects, I'll replace the map on this article in a bit.

 – Minh Nguyễn ^💬 01:39, 26 March 2020 (UTC)

The geometry of that projection, especially with Alaska, would make a thumbnail of it unreadable, unlike the SVG map which can be mostly understood without opening it. Could the thumbnail default to the 48 states, so they can still be intelligible? I know that's not ideal but it would preserve the casual usefulness that the SVG map has. -Jason A. Quest (talk) 02:50, 26 March 2020 (UTC)

Yes, we could have the default view zoomed in to fit the contiguous U.S., with a caption that mentions Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and Anchorage. By the way, voy:2019–2020 coronavirus pandemic#Lockdowns and other internal restrictions has a thumbnail of this map at a more reasonable size. – Minh Nguyễn ^💬 04:59, 26 March 2020 (UTC)

Instructions for contributing to this map. – Minh Nguyễn ^💬 15:59, 26 March 2020 (UTC)

Welp, maps.wikimedia.org/geoshape has started returning HTTP 400 errors for this query, making the map go blank, so I'm not sure if it was built to scale to such a patchwork of local laws. – Minh Nguyễn ^💬 20:56, 26 March 2020 (UTC)

That was an error in the query, never mind. – Minh Nguyễn ^💬 14:50, 27 March 2020 (UTC)

TEXAS HAS HAD A STATEWIDE STAY AT HOME ORDER SINCE APRIL 2

Texas governor gave a statewide stay at home order effective April 2. Multiple sources say this. WHY is this article STILL saying it's regional stay at home for Texas? This state HAS a stay at home order! People are coming here for INFORMATION so stop spreading misinformation! Every time it's changed it keeps being changed back to "regional" stay at home for Texas STOP COVERING THE TRUTH. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.121.241.93 (talk) 04:18, 3 April 2020 (UTC)

For a couple days, Governor Abbott was insisting that his order was not a stay-at-home order. He finally stated on the 2nd that it was in fact a stay-at-home order, at which point this article and the accompanying maps were edited to reflect that statement. [1][2] In the future, if you notice your edits getting reverted, please make sure you back up your edits with relevant citations and double-check that they aren't contradicted by the citations that are already present. Thank you for understanding. – Minh Nguyễn ^💬 01:30, 4 April 2020 (UTC)

Oklahoma and Utah have given stay at home orders

And it's still not being reported on this page. People come to this page for information, I have no idea why the information is delayed by several days on this page, this situation can't afford information delays of several days. NBC news reported tonight (April 4 2020) that only 7 states remain that do not have stay at home orders. That means that between April 3 and 4, Oklahoma and Utah have given stay at home orders. If NBC news has this update, why doesn't this article. If someone in those states hasn't seen the news and comes here to get the latest info, they won't get it. That's dangerous as people don't know if what they're doing is legal or not. THIS PAGE NEEDS UP-TO-THE-MINUTE INFORMATION. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.121.241.93 (talk) 07:12, 5 April 2020 (UTC)

Thanks for continuing to scrutinize the content of this article – there's a lot to keep up with.

What Oklahoma issued on April 1 was a mandatory stay-at-home order for "vulnerable populations" and, for the rest of the population, a closure of nonessential businesses but no order to stay at home. [3] This hasn't changed as of the governor's latest executive order on April 2. [4] I've updated the "Closures ordered" columns to reflect this change, but the "stay-at-home order" column should continue to say "Regional", since only the largest cities have issued mandatory, general shelter-in-place orders. [5][6]

As for Utah, mayors are still calling for the governor to issue a statewide stay-at-home order, but so far there's only a statewide advisory. The latest executive order only closes dine-in restaurants, which is not even as much as what Oklahoma has done. There has been a voluntary stay-at-home directive since March 27; however, "These directives are not to be confused with a shelter-in-place order." Kentucky instituted something similar, but we aren't listing it as a mandatory order. As with Oklahoma, the "Closures ordered" column has been updated, but it would be inaccurate to list Utah as having a stay-at-home order even if NBC News said it does.

 – Minh Nguyễn ^💬 15:48, 5 April 2020 (UTC)

Individual states status here or ...?

From Talk:2020 coronavirus pandemic in the United States/Archive 6 § Governors status, add here or ... ?:

• Governors plead for medical equipment from federal stockpile plagued by shortages and confusion March 31, 2020 WaPo

Notable example (Jay Inslee too): Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said her state is not getting the health and safety equipment needed because contractors are sending their products to the federal government, implying that the order came from the Trump administration. On Friday, Trump said he had instructed Mike Pence not to call governors who have not been “appreciative” enough of his efforts on coronavirus. “If they don’t treat you right, I don’t call,” Trump said, adding: “Don’t call the woman in Michigan.”

• https://wwjnewsradio.radio.com/articles/after-trump-attacks-whitmer-she-says-fed-supplies-delayed
• https://www.crainsdetroit.com/coronavirus/whitmer-feds-told-vendors-not-send-medical-supplies-michigan
• https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/27/politics/michigan-governor-medical-supplies-cnntv
• Zeke Miller, Jill Colvin, and Darlene Superville Trump boosts virus aid, warns governors to be ‘appreciative’ March 28, 2020 usatoday.com
• https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/03/27/coronavirus-donald-trump-tells-pence-not-call-michigan-governor/2931251001

When PBS's Yamiche Alcindor noted that the President had said he did not believe that governors actually need all the equipment they claimed they did, Trump said, "I didn't say that" — even though he said precisely that on Fox News on Thursday. Later, when CNN White House Correspondent Jeremy Diamond noted that Trump had said he wanted governors to be "appreciative" of him, and that "if they don't treat you right, I don't call," Trump said, "But I didn't say that" — even though he said precisely that at the Friday briefing.

per Daniel Dale and Tara Subramaniam Fact check: Trump falsely denies saying two things he said last week March 30, 2020 CNN

See Veracity of statements by Donald Trump

and

• https://www.nga.org/coronavirus is National Governors Association website, which has State Emergency/Public Health Emergency Declarations (All States/Territories)

X1\ (talk) 07:40, 7 April 2020 (UTC)

I noticed that the California timeline has nothing after April! Very out of date! Also, as a California resident, I am constantly annoyed at all the lists and such that always show California as at or near the worst in cases or in deaths even though California is far and away the most populous state, and so will generally be close to the top in total cases or deaths, but on lists with cases or deaths per unit of population, California is actually quite far down the list, even in some cases near or in the bottom third! I ask people to try to keep that perspective in mind. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.181.193.59 (talk • contribs)

What do we do when states start re-opening/taking back their restrictions?

Does that information stay on this page? Or go to a new page about re-opening the economy?

If it stays on this page, does it go into a new table? I don't think the current table should be changed because the relaxations don't exactly match the original restrictions. For instance, Florida issued a stay at home order, but it didn't completely lift that order - they just opened the beaches. 192.160.51.88 (talk) 13:18, 20 April 2020 (UTC)

In the state-by-state sections, these changes should just be listed as another item in their response.

For the table, I don't think that Florida opening beaches contradicts or undoes a general stay-at-home order. Those generally allow people to go public spaces for individual/distanced recreation... this just expands on that exception.

When we get to the point that states or counties are outright canceling the orders represented in the map, switching them to a different color (such as orange) – to represent a former stay-at-home region – would be a good way to handle that. Alternatively, if we want to preserve the history of when the orders were enacted, and also show the history of when they were ended, a second map could show that. -Jason A. Quest (talk) 17:22, 20 April 2020 (UTC)

I think that timing will be very important because, for instance, people will want to relate it to the rate of new infections.

A new map would work well for showing the time change of a single part of the response, and the stay-at-home order seems like a good choice for just one. But the other parts of the response are also very important, especially re-opening non-essential businesses.192.160.51.88 (talk) 17:48, 20 April 2020 (UTC)

It's a lot harder to maintain a map of current stay-at-home orders versus the existing map of stay-at-home orders that have existed at any point, because each order has only one start date but the end dates keep changing. That said, I have been trying to keep the Wikidata items that power c:Data:Stay-at-home orders in the United States.map up to date with the stay-at-home orders as they've been extended, terminated, or allowed to expire. It's a mountain of information to sift through; I'm a couple weeks behind for most of the country and have spent the past few days focused on getting Texas updated. You're all welcome to help by clicking on the map or running the linked Wikidata Query Service query and adding a claim about the new end date. Please keep the old end date in place but add "start date" and "end date" qualifiers to it and a "start date" qualifier to the new claim. Ideally, set the new claim's rank to preferred, and add a citation to the new claim. For example, Louisiana's stay-at-home order has been extended twice. Once the items are in better shape, we can make another map of the current orders that'll hopefully be maintainable. Thanks in advance for any help you can provide! – Minh Nguyễn ^💬 01:34, 2 May 2020 (UTC)

Reopenings

Restaurants have reopened in Alaska, Tennessee, and Georgia. Should we either reflect that on the chart or maybe make a note that says "Reopened April 27th" (for example)? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.52.165.31 (talk) 12:30, 28 April 2020 (UTC)

Sounds good or include an expiration date for the restrictions. 2603:9001:101:147:4181:FB66:14C1:D945 (talk) 19:07, 1 May 2020 (UTC)

I totally agree. This entire page is definitely outdated. I added Wisconsin's declaration of their stay at home order as unconstitutional, but that definitely isn't enough. I might start an RfC soon. GamerKiller2347 (talk) 06:19, 17 June 2020 (UTC)

New Map?

Should there be a new map to illustrate new closures and lockdowns?

I came here to wonder the same thing. ♫ Hurricanehink (talk) 18:58, 18 November 2020 (UTC)