Across the US, 30 states have relaxed aspects of their stay-at-home orders and allowed certain businesses to reopen, hoping the worst is behind them. Meanwhile, 18 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Guam remain under lockdown.
Public-health experts have repeatedly warned that lifting lockdowns too early could lead to more waves of coronavirus transmission, which could force states to implement new lockdowns to curb the virus' spread.
Some states have already seen cases spike. Less than two weeks after its stay-at-home order expired, Texas reported its largest daily increase in new coronavirus cases and deaths. Others states, including Florida and Georgia, eased restrictions in recent weeks even though case numbers weren't declining, but have seen them hold relatively stable so far. States like New York and Washington, where outbreaks hit earlier and lockdowns are still in effect, have reported steady declines in new cases.
However, we don't yet have definitive answers as to how states' decisions to loosen restrictions are impacting their outbreaks. That's because new case data can lag several weeks behind what's actually happening — people who get COVID-19 take an average of five days to develop symptoms, then may need to wait multiple days for test results. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has estimated that numbers we see today reflect infections that occurred about two weeks ago.
In states that aren't doing extensive testing, many cases might also not show on public health officials' radars at all.
Still, based on our best current information, here's what the progression of new cases reported each day looks like in 20 US states that have had significant COVID-19 outbreaks.
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