Katie Canales/Business Insider
San Francisco residents are allowed to go outside as long as they stay six feet apart.
- As the coronavirus disease continues to spread, governments across the globe are enforcing crackdowns to slow the spread of the virus.
- "Lockdown," "shelter-in-place," and "stay-at-home" are sometimes used interchangeably, but restrictions vary by the nation, state, or city that has issued the order.
- Typically, places under full lockdowns have stricter restrictions on residents going outside than do locales under shelter-in-place or stay-at-home orders.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
Countries, states, and cities across the world are enforcing lockdowns, shelter-in-place orders, and other restrictions in an attempt to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease, known as COVID-19.
The orders can differ in strictness. Residents on lockdown in Wuhan, China, where the virus originated, can only send one household member outside every 72 hours to gather food and medical supplies. India's recently announced lockdown will strictly enforce a ban on anyone leaving their homes. In Italy and France, residents are required to carry special government-issued paperwork if they step outside during lockdowns.
Then there are shelter-in-place or stay-at-home orders, which have been implemented in San Francisco, the state of California, and now other states like New York and Ohio. Nearly a third of Americans are currently living under a shelter-in-place order and can leave their home for essential needs, like for groceries or to go for a walk.
The directives have different names and the specifics vary from place to place, but they all have one goal in common: to keep residents home as much as possible in an attempt to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
Here's how these types of orders differ and what you typically can and can't do if you're under them.
Get the latest coronavirus analysis and research from Business Insider Intelligence on how COVID-19 is impacting businesses.