Coronavirus US Update: Southern States Avoid The Brunt Of COVID-19, Thanks To Social Distancing

New York, Michigan, and other states with coronavirus hot spots are seeing prolonged peaks in comparison to their Southern counterparts.

Experts have indicated that the Southern states may well experience less of an impact by novel coronavirus infections, well under what was previously projected. According to new projection models released by the White House, there have been a set of decreasing cases at the national level.

Much of this shift can be attributed to better social distancing practices, even in locations where there are no official guidelines in place, according to Dr. Christopher Murray, director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.

"We made a big push trying to take into account how people move around, like direct measurement through cell phone data," he said during CNN's global town hall on coronavirus Thursday (April 16). "There's more social distancing across the country than I think we expected. A number of states in the South will have smaller epidemics than expected."

Unfortunately, that means places like New York and similarly heavily impacted states are seeing extended peaks and experiencing more difficulty flattening the curve.

"It's not something that I think anybody expected to see where people would, instead of two or three days to peak, they're spending a longer period and then cases will start to come down," Murray added.

Even now, some states are looking to reopen businesses this early in the cycle. With all but seven states having issued stay-at-home orders and the shutdown of any nonessential businesses, it could be concerning to allow states to open back up again too soon. State governors will eventually make the call on when they'll open up again, but it's a delicate process that must be executed with tact.

"We must get this right because the stakes are very high. If we don't do it right, the consequences are horrendous," said Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine. "It's going to be gradual. It's going to be rolling it out one thing after another."

In some states, new case numbers are continuing to drop dramatically, but new outbreaks still manage to occur. Regardless of what each state ends up deciding on opening back up, it's going to be a long road to the new normal.