Coronavirus USA: Ohio, Louisiana Issue Stay-At-Home Orders Amid Outbreak

As the coronavirus continues to spread across the United States, Ohio and Louisiana state governments have issued stay-at-home orders.

The Ohio order will close most non-essential businesses, but restaurants will still be able to provide carryout and delivery. Grocery stores, gas stations, pharmacies and healthcare facilities will remain open, with the order taking effect late Monday at 11:59 p.m local time and lasting until April 6. People will be able to go outdoors, provided they engage in social distancing from others.

"There is nothing in the order that we haven't already been talking about. There is nothing in this that I haven't been asking you to do for the last few weeks," Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said Sunday at a press conference. There are at least 351 cases of coronavirus in Ohio.

The Louisiana order will have mostly the same provisions as the one in Ohio but will take effect at 5 p.m. local time on Monday.

“Today, I am issuing a statewide Stay at Home order that goes into effect at 5 p.m. Monday, March 23, to further fight the spread of COVID-19 in Louisiana, as the number of confirmed cases is now more than 800,” Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards tweeted.

Five other U.S. states have issued shelter-at-home orders, closing all non-essential businesses: New York, Connecticut, Illinois, New Jersey and California. These five states alone make up 31% of the U.S. economy.

According to Johns Hopkins University, at least 32,057 people in the U.S. have been infected by coronavirus, with the death toll at 400.