Terms and definitions related to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic

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Active COVID-19 emergency orders • Changes to emergency power laws • Federal government responses • Mask requirements • School policies in the 2021-2022 academic year • State vaccine requirement (vaccine passport) policies • State employee vaccine requirements • State plans to end federal unemployment • State unemployment filings • Travel restrictions • Vaccine distribution plans
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Ballotpedia has comprehensively covered how the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic affected America's political and civic life. Our coverage includes how federal, state, and local governments responded, and the effects those responses had on campaigns and elections.

This page was created in May 2020 to explain how we used particular terms and phrases related to political and government responses to the coronavirus pandemic. These were not the only definitions of these terms or phrases that appeared in media, but were specific to Ballotpedia's coverage. The page is preserved here for archival purposes.

• What is a state of emergency?
• What is a stay-at-home order?
• What is a nonessential business?
• What restrictions do stay-at-home orders apply to individuals?
• What is an essential activity?
• How did we define reopening?
• General resources for citizens

What is a state of emergency?

All states provide structures for the governor or another ranking official to declare a state of emergency. Generally, the governor declares an emergency by issuing an executive order providing for the effective date and duration of the state of emergency, geographic areas covered by the state of emergency, and how the state is responding to the emergency. Declaring a state of emergency allows officials to do a number of things they could not normally do, including:

• Activation of state emergency response plans and mutual aid agreements.
• Activation of state emergency operations center and incident command system.
• Authority to expend funds and deploy personnel, equipment, supplies, and stockpiles.
• Activation of statutory immunities and liability protections for those involved in response activities.
• Suspension and waiver of rules and regulations (and statutes, if allowed).
• Streamlining of state administrative procedures such as procurement requirements.

As a result of the coronavirus outbreak, all 50 states declared states of emergency.

What is a stay-at-home order?

See also: States with lockdown and stay-at-home orders in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, 2020

A stay-at-home order was an executive order issued by an elected official that contained at least the following two directives:

• A requirement for residents to stay at home except for essential trips for supplies or exercise.
• The closure or modified operations of businesses deemed nonessential.

The names of these orders varied from state to state. Names for these orders included stay-at-home, shelter-in-place, lockdown, and shutdown.

Governors also issued safer-at-home orders, which contained fewer restrictions on individuals or businesses. Such orders, for example, might only require vulnerable individuals to stay at home except for essential trips.

In some states, a designated official other than the governor could also issue such orders. These designated officials were defined in state law.

Forty-three states issued statewide shelter-in-place, stay-at-home, closure, or shutdown orders in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The map below highlights states that issued a stay-at-home order.

We classified New Mexico's stay-at-home order as active through November 30 because of the following language in the state's health orders since March: “all New Mexicans should be staying in their homes for all but the most essential activities and services.” In practice, New Mexicans were permitted to leave their homes for a broad range of activities, even if it was not recommended.

With the November and December wave of new, stricter coronavirus orders, we decided to end our stay-at-home coverage to work on building comprehensive coverage of practical restrictions.

In the majority of states without stay-at-home orders, businesses still experienced some closures or modified operations. To read more about those states, click here.

What is a nonessential business?

See also: States with lockdown and stay-at-home orders in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, 2020

In 2018, President Donald Trump passed the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Act. The Act established the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), whose purpose is to serve as the United States’s risk advisor. More generally, CISA was created to develop resources to defend against cyber attacks and work with businesses to ensure the nation’s critical infrastructure was resilient to threats.

CISA's Infrastructure Security Division conducts assessments to help critical infrastructure operators and partners at all levels, whether they be state, local, or tribal, understand risks to the infrastructure. There are 16 critical infrastructure sectors, and they are defined as industries whose assets, systems, and networks, whether physical or virtual, are considered so vital to the U.S. that their incapacitation would have a debilitating effect on security, national economic security, national public health, or any combination thereof. As of March 24, 2020, CISA defined the following as essential critical infrastructure sectors: chemical, commercial facilities, communications, critical manufacturing, dams, defense industrial bases, emergency services, energy, financial services, food and agriculture, government facilities, healthcare and public health, information technology, nuclear reactors, materials, and waste, transportation systems sector, and waste and wastewater systems. This assessment of essential and nonessential businesses therefore defined nonessential businesses as recreational businesses, such as salons, casinos, and restaurants.

As part of a stay-at-home order, governors defined either essential businesses (businesses that must remain open) or nonessential businesses (businesses that must close). The exact definitions of essential and nonessential businesses varied from state to state. Many states, however, used a baseline provided by a federal agency as a guide to the businesses that fell into each category. On March 19, 2020, CISA released a memo that outlined "the critical infrastructure sectors and the essential workers needed to maintain the services and functions Americans depend on daily and that need to be able to operate resiliently during the COVID-19 pandemic response." It defined essential businesses as those operating in the following industries. Scroll through the box below to see the full list.

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HEALTHCARE / PUBLIC HEALTH Workers providing COVID-19 testing; Workers that perform critical clinical research needed for COVID-19 response Caregivers (e.g., physicians, dentists, psychologists, mid-level practitioners, nurses and assistants, infection control and quality assurance personnel, pharmacists, physical and occupational therapists and assistants, social workers, speech pathologists and diagnostic and therapeutic technicians and technologists) Hospital and laboratory personnel (including accounting, administrative, admitting and discharge, engineering, epidemiological, source plasma and blood donation, food service, housekeeping, medical records, information technology and operational technology, nutritionists, sanitarians, respiratory therapists, etc.) Workers in other medical facilities (including Ambulatory Health and Surgical, Blood Banks, Clinics, Community Mental Health, Comprehensive Outpatient rehabilitation, End Stage Renal Disease, Health Departments, Home Health care, Hospices, Hospitals, Long Term Care, Organ Pharmacies, Procurement Organizations, Psychiatric Residential, Rural Health Clinics and Federally Qualified Health Centers) Manufacturers, technicians, logistics and warehouse operators, and distributors of medical equipment, personal protective equipment (PPE), medical gases, pharmaceuticals, blood and blood products, vaccines, testing materials, laboratory supplies, cleaning, sanitizing, disinfecting or sterilization supplies, and tissue and paper towel products Public health/community health workers, including those who compile, model, analyze and communicate public health information Blood and plasma donors and the employees of the organizations that operate and manage related activities Workers that manage health plans, billing, and health information, who can not practically work remotely Workers who conduct community-based public health functions, conducting epidemiologic surveillance, compiling, analyzing and communicating public health information, who can not practically work remotely Workers performing cybersecurity functions at healthcare and public health facilities, who cannot practically work remotely Workers conducting research critical to COVID-19 response Workers performing security, incident management, and emergency operations functions at or on behalf of healthcare entities including healthcare coalitions, who can not practically work remotely Workers who support food, shelter, and social services, and other necessities of life for economically disadvantaged or otherwise needy individuals, such as those residing in shelters Pharmacy employees necessary for filling prescriptions Workers performing mortuary services,including funeral homes, crematoriums, and cemetery workers Workers who coordinate with other organizations to ensure the proper recovery, handling, identification, transportation, tracking, storage, and disposal of human remains and personal effects; certify the cause of death; and facilitate access to mental/behavioral health services to the family members, responders, and survivors of an incident LAW ENFORCEMENT, PUBLIC SAFETY, FIRST RESPONDERS Personnel in emergency management, law enforcement, Emergency Management Systems, fire, and corrections, including front line and management Emergency Medical Technicians 911 call center employees Fusion Center employees Hazardous material responders from government and the private sector. Workers –including contracted vendors --who maintain digital systems infrastructure supporting law enforcement and emergency service operations. FOOD AND AGRICULTURE Workers supporting groceries, pharmacies and other retail that sells food and beverage products Restaurant carry-out and quick serve food operations -Carry-out and delivery food employees Food manufacturer employees and their supplier employees—to include those employed in food processing (packers, meat processing, cheese plants, milk plants, produce, etc.) facilities; livestock, poultry, seafood slaughter facilities; pet and animal feed processing facilities; human food facilities producing by-products for animal food; beverage production facilities; and the production of food packaging Farmworkers to include those employed in animal food, feed, and ingredient production, packaging, and distribution; manufacturing, packaging, and distribution of veterinary drugs; truck delivery and transport; farm and fishery labor needed to produce our food supply domestically Farm workers and support service workers to include those who field crops; commodity inspection; fuel ethanol facilities; storage facilities; and other agricultural inputs Employees and firms supporting food, feed, and beverage distribution, including warehouse workers, vendor-managed inventory controllers and blockchain managers Workers supporting the sanitation of all food manufacturing processes and operations from wholesale to retail Company cafeterias -in-plant cafeterias used to feed employees Workers in food testing labs in private industries and in institutions of higher education Workers essential for assistance programs and government payments Employees of companies engaged in the production of chemicals, medicines, vaccines, and other substances used by the food and agriculture industry, including pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers, minerals, enrichments, and other agricultural production aids Animal agriculture workers to include those employed in veterinary health; manufacturing and distribution of animal medical materials, animal vaccines, animal drugs, feed ingredients, feed, and bedding, etc.; transportation of live animals, animal medical materials; transportation of deceased animals for disposal; raising of animals for food; animal production operations; slaughter and packing plants and associated regulatory and government workforce Workers who support the manufacture and distribution of forest products, including, but not limited to timber, paper, and other wood products Employees engaged in the manufacture and maintenance of equipment and other infrastructure necessary to agricultural production and distribution ENERGY Workers who maintain, ensure, or restore the generation, transmission, and distribution of electric power, including call centers, utility workers, reliability engineers, and fleet maintenance technicians Workers needed for safe and secure operations at nuclear generation Workers at generation, transmission, and electric black start facilities Workers at Reliability Coordinator (RC), Balancing Authorities (BA), and primary and backup Control Centers (CC), including but not limited to independent system operators, regional transmission organizations, and balancing authorities Mutual assistance personnel IT and OT technology staff – for EMS (Energy Management Systems) and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems, and utility data centers; Cybersecurity engineers; cybersecurity risk management Vegetation management crews and traffic workers who support Environmental remediation/monitoring technicians Instrumentation, protection, and control technicians Petroleum workers Petroleum product storage, pipeline, marine transport, terminals, rail transport, road transport Crude oil storage facilities, pipeline, and marine transport Petroleum refinery facilities Petroleum security operations center employees and workers who support emergency response services Petroleum operations control rooms/centers Petroleum drilling, extraction, production, processing, refining, terminal operations, transporting, and retail for use as end-use fuels or feedstocks for chemical manufacturing Onshore and offshore operations for maintenance and emergency response Retail fuel centers such as gas stations and truck stops, and the distribution systems that support them" and then has a new subsection on Natural and propane gas workers Natural gas transmission and distribution pipelines, including compressor stations Underground storage of natural gas Natural gas processing plants, and those that deal with natural gas liquids Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) facilities Natural gas security operations center, natural gas operations dispatch and control rooms/centers natural gas emergency response and customer emergencies, including natural gas leak calls Drilling, production, processing, refining, and transporting natural gas for use as end-use fuels, feedstocks for chemical manufacturing, or use in electricity generation Propane gas dispatch and control rooms and emergency response and customer emergencies, including propane leak calls Propane gas service maintenance and restoration, including call centers Processing, refining, and transporting natural liquids, including propane gas, for use as end-use fuels or feedstocks for chemical manufacturing Propane gas storage, transmission, and distribution centers WATER AND WASTEWATER Operational staff at water authorities Operational staff at community water systems Operational staff at wastewater treatment facilities Workers repairing water and wastewater conveyances and performing required sampling or monitoring Operational staff for water distribution and testing Operational staff at wastewater collection facilities Operational staff and technical support for SCADA Control systems Chemical disinfectant suppliers for wastewater and personnel protection Workers that maintain digital systems infrastructure supporting water and wastewater operations TRANSPORTATION AND LOGISTICS Employees supporting or enabling transportation functions, including dispatchers, maintenance and repair technicians, warehouse workers, truck stop and rest area workers, and workers that maintain and inspect infrastructure (including those that require cross-border travel) Employees of firms providing services that enable logistics operations, including cooling, storing, packaging, and distributing products for wholesale or retail sale or use. Mass transit workers Workers responsible for operating dispatching passenger, commuter and freight trains and maintaining rail infrastructure and equipment Maritime transportation workers -port workers, mariners, equipment operators Truck drivers who haul hazardous and waste materials to support critical infrastructure, capabilities, functions, and services Automotive repair and maintenance facilities Manufacturers and distributors (to include service centers and related operations) of packaging materials, pallets, crates, containers, and other supplies needed to support manufacturing, packaging staging and distribution operations Postal and shipping workers, to include private companies Employees who repair and maintain vehicles, aircraft, rail equipment, marine vessels, and the equipment and infrastructure that enables operations that encompass the movement of cargo and passengers Air transportation employees, including air traffic controllers, ramp personnel, aviation security, and aviation management Workers who support the maintenance and operation of cargo by air transportation, including flight crews, maintenance, airport operations, and other on-and off-airport facilities workers PUBLIC WORKS Workers who support the operation, inspection, and maintenance of essential dams, locks and levees Workers who support the operation, inspection, and maintenance of essential public works facilities and operations, including bridges, water, and sewer main breaks, fleet maintenance personnel, construction of critical or strategic infrastructure, traffic signal maintenance, emergency location services for buried utilities, maintenance of digital systems infrastructure supporting public works operations, and other emergent issues Workers such as plumbers, electricians, exterminators, and other service providers who provide services that are necessary to maintaining the safety, sanitation, and essential operation of residences Support, such as road and line clearing, to ensure the availability of needed facilities, transportation, energy and communications Support to ensure the effective removal, storage, and disposal of residential and commercial solid waste and hazardous waste COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY Maintenance of communications infrastructure-including privately owned and maintained communication systems-supported by technicians, operators, call-centers, wireline, and wireless providers, cable service providers, satellite operations, undersea cable landing stations, Internet Exchange Points, and manufacturers and distributors of communications equipment Workers who support radio, television, and media service, including, but not limited to front line news reporters, studio, and technicians for newsgathering and reporting Workers at Independent System Operators and Regional Transmission Organizations, and Network Operations staff, engineers and/or technicians to manage the network or operate facilities Engineers, technicians and associated personnel responsible for infrastructure construction and restoration, including contractors for construction and engineering of fiber optic cables Installation, maintenance and repair technicians that establish, support or repair service as needed Central office personnel to maintain and operate central office, data centers, and other network office facilities Customer service and support staff, including managed and professional services as well as remote providers of support to transitioning employees to set up and maintain home offices, who interface with customers to manage or support service environments and security issues, including payroll, billing, fraud, and troubleshooting Dispatchers involved with service repair and restoration Workers who support command centers, including, but not limited to Network Operations Command Center, Broadcast Operations Control Center and Security Operations Command Center Data center operators, including system administrators, HVAC & electrical engineers, security personnel, IT managers, data transfer solutions engineers, software and hardware engineers, and database administrators Client service centers, field engineers, and other technicians supporting critical infrastructure, as well as manufacturers and supply chain vendors that provide hardware and software, and information technology equipment (to include microelectronics and semiconductors) for critical infrastructure Workers responding to cyber incidents involving critical infrastructure, including medical facilities, SLTT governments, and federal facilities, energy and utilities, and banks and financial institutions, and other critical infrastructure categories and personnel Workers supporting the provision of essential global, national and local infrastructure for computing services (incl. cloud computing services), business infrastructure, web-based services, and critical manufacturing Workers supporting communications systems and information technology used by law enforcement, public safety, medical, energy and other critical industries Support required for continuity of services, including janitorial/cleaning personnel OTHER COMMUNITY-BASED GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS AND ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS Workers to ensure continuity of building functions Security staff to maintain building access control and physical security measures Elections personnel Federal, State, and Local, Tribal, and Territorial employees who support Mission Essential Functions and communications networks Trade Officials (FTA negotiators; international data flow administrators) Weather forecasters Workers that maintain digital systems infrastructure supporting other critical government operations Workers at operations centers necessary to maintain other essential functions Workers who support necessary credentialing, vetting and licensing operations for transportation workers Customs workers who are critical to facilitating trade in support of the national emergency response supply chain Educators supporting public and private K-12 schools, colleges, and universities for purposes of facilitating distance learning or performing other essential functions, if operating under rules for social distancing Hotel Workers where hotels are used for COVID-19 mitigation and containment measures CRITICAL MANUFACTURING Workers necessary for the manufacturing of materials and products needed for medical supply chains, transportation, energy, communications, food and agriculture, chemical manufacturing, nuclear facilities, the operation of dams, water, and wastewater treatment, emergency services, and the defense industrial base. HAZARDOUS MATERIALS Workers at nuclear facilities, workers managing medical waste, workers managing waste from pharmaceuticals and medical material production, and workers at laboratories processing test kits Workers who support hazardous materials response and cleanup Workers who maintain digital systems infrastructure supporting hazardous materials management operations FINANCIAL SERVICES Workers who are needed to process and maintain systems for processing financial transactions and services (e.g., payment, clearing, and settlement; wholesale funding; insurance services; and capital markets activities) Workers who are needed to provide consumer access to banking and lending services, including ATMs, and to move currency and payments (e.g., armored cash carriers) Workers who support financial operations, such as those staffing data and security operations centers CHEMICAL Workers supporting the chemical and industrial gas supply chains, including workers at chemical manufacturing plants, workers in laboratories, workers at distribution facilities, workers who transport basic raw chemical materials to the producers of industrial and consumer goods, including hand sanitizers, food and food additives, pharmaceuticals, textiles, and paper products. Workers supporting the safe transportation of chemicals, including those supporting tank truck cleaning facilities and workers who manufacture packaging items Workers supporting the production of protective cleaning and medical solutions, personal protective equipment, and packaging that prevents the contamination of food, water, medicine, among other essential products Workers supporting the operation and maintenance of facilities (particularly those with high risk chemicals and/or sites that cannot be shut down) whose work cannot be done remotely and requires the presence of highly trained personnel to ensure safe operations, including plant contract workers who provide inspections Workers who support the production and transportation of chlorine and alkali manufacturing, single-use plastics, and packaging that prevents the contamination or supports the continued manufacture of food, water, medicine, and other essential products, including glass container manufacturing DEFENSE INDUSTRIAL BASE Workers who support the essential services required to meet national security commitments to the federal government and U.S. Military. These individuals include but are not limited to, aerospace; mechanical and software engineers, manufacturing/production workers; IT support; security staff; security personnel; intelligence support, aircraft and weapon system mechanics and maintainers Personnel working for companies, and their subcontractors, who perform under contract to the Department of Defense providing materials and services to the Department of Defense, and government-owned/contractor-operated and government-owned/government-operated facilities

”

Click on a state below to read more about business closures in that state.

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What restrictions do stay-at-home orders apply to individuals?

See also: Status of lockdown and stay-at-home orders in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, 2020

Although the specifics of stay-at-home orders varied by state, they typically contained some or all of the following provisions that applied to individuals.

• Stay-at-home requirements - Orders included a requirement for residents to stay at home except for what the state defined as essential trips for supplies or exercise.
• Gathering sizes - Orders could limit the number of individuals allowed at both public and private gatherings. In the most restrictive cases, orders could forbid individuals from gathering privately with any person that was not in his or her household.
• Face coverings - Orders could require individuals to wear face masks or other coverings when leaving the home.
• Travel restrictions - Orders could impose restrictions on travel in the state in several ways. First, travel to or from specific states or regions could be restricted. Officials could also require self-quarantines for arriving travelers. In some cases, orders could also impose bans on intrastate travel except for essential activities.

What is an essential activity?

Stay-at-home orders typically required individuals to stay at home with an exemption for essential activities. These were defined by each order, but typically included some or all of the following:

• Working at a business classified as essential.
• Taking care of elderly or sick family members outside of the household.
• Taking care of pets.
• Trips to grocery stores, pharmacies, liquor stores, gas stations, and home improvement stores for supplies.
• Walking, jogging, hiking, biking, or other outdoor exercises that adhere to social distancing guidelines.

How did we define reopening?

Our coverage of states reopening their economies classified states into several categories. Those categories are defined below.

• Limited or no announced reopening plan - The state had not yet announced a reopening plan that partially or completely lifted restrictions for three or more industries. This included states that had either released information about public health benchmarks without industry-specific information or lifted restrictions for just one or two industries, e.g., elective medical procedures or limited recreational sites.
• Reopening plan without a contingent or effective date - The state announced a reopening plan that included provisions for partially or completely lifting restrictions on three or more industries. The plan did not list an effective date or target date contingent on meeting certain public health benchmarks.
• Reopening plan with a contingent date - The state announced a reopening plan that included provisions for partially or completely lifting restrictions on three or more industries. The plan provided a target date contingent on meeting certain public health benchmarks.
• Reopening plan with an effective date - The state announced a reopening plan that included provisions for partially or completely lifting restrictions on three or more industries. The plan provided an effective date.
• Reopenings in progress - The state partially or completely lifted restrictions on three or more industries. Implementing additional phases of the plan could have been contingent on meeting certain public health benchmarks.
• No state-mandated closures were issued - The state did not order any businesses to close. This only occurred in South Dakota.

General resources

The chart below shows coronavirus statistics from countries across the world. The information is provided by Real Clear Politics.

Click the links below to explore official resources related to the coronavirus outbreak.

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
• National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
• Occupational Safety and Health Administration, U.S. Department of Labor
• U.S. Department of Education
• World Health Organization
• Trends in Number of COVID-19 Cases and Deaths in the US Reported to CDC, by State/Territory
• Coronavirus (COVID-19) Vaccinations, Our World in Data (Number of vaccines administered)
• Coronavirus Vaccine Tracker, New York Times (Progress of vaccine trials)

See also

• Documenting America's Path to Recovery
• COVID-19 vaccine distribution
• Coronavirus (COVID-19) travel restrictions
• Officeholders and candidates diagnosed with, dead from, or quarantined because of coronavirus
• Federal government responses to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic
• School responses to the coronavirus (COVID-19 pandemic
• Recalls related to the coronavirus (COVID-19) and government responses to the pandemic

Footnotes