Corona and Democracy - United States

Information on COVID-19 measures and democracy

• January 31, 2020: The Trump administration announced a travel ban from China by foreign nationals.[58]
• February 29, 2020: The Trump administration announced a travel ban from Iran by foreign nationals and issues "do not travel" warning for areas in Italy and South Korea.[56]
• March 11, 2020: Trump administration announced a 30-day travel ban from European Union countries by foreign nationals.[54]
• March 14, 2020: Trump extended the March 11 travel ban to include the United Kingdom and Ireland.[48]
• March 16, 2020: Trump announced social distancing guidelines, including limiting gatherings to fewer than 10 people, avoiding eating and drinking in bars and restaurants, and avoiding unnecessary travel.[46]
• March 17, 2020: The United States and Canada mutually agreed to close their border to non-essential traffic.[43]
• March 20, 2020: The United States and Mexico mutually agreed to close the border to non-essential traffic.[36]
• March 29, 2020: Trump announced that social distancing guidelines would remain in effect through April.[23]
• April 20, 2020: Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf announced that travel restrictions with Canada and Mexico would be extended another 30 days. The restrictions, implemented in agreement with Canada and Mexico in late March, prohibit nonessential travel.[3]
•  43 States have issued lockdown or shelter-in-place orders (An overview of lockdown measures can be found on Ballotpedia)
• 23 states have issued travel restrictions (An overview of travel restrictions can be found on Ballotpedia)

    26 April:

• The state of Colorado and Montana lifted the restrictions and stay-at-home orders. In the following weeks, 15 other states have done the same. 26 states maintained the lockdown measures.

6 May:

• 11 states still have lockdowns in place, 22 have limited business opening, 14 have major business opening, and 3 never had lockdown

22 June:

• In New York City, the main hotspot for the coronavirus pandemic in the United States, offices reopened today

• Ballotpedia's coverage of how coronavirus is affecting America's political and civic life
• https://ballotpedia.org/Status_of_lockdown_and_stay-at-home_orders_in_response_to_the_coronavirus_(COVID-19)_pandemic,_2020
• https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52421730
• https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2020/04/30/coronavirus-latest-news/
• https://www.wired.com/story/which-states-reopening-lockdown/
• https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/22/nyregion/nyc-phase-2-reopening-coronavirus.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

• State-level elections were postponed in 20 states and municipal elections in 5 states. New dates have been set for all elections. An overview of election schedule changes can be found on Ballotpedia.
• 23 states have made changes to the regulations to make it easier to vote by mail or will automatically be mailing mail-in ballots to all voters. An overview electoral procedure changes can be found on Ballotpedia.
• In 8 States signature collection for ballot initiatives was suspended and in 18 states postponed - An overview of states where initiatives have cancelled or postponed signature collection (Ballotpedia)

• March 12, 2020: Congress announced the U.S. Capitol would be closed through March and House and Senate facilities would be closed to the public.[50]
• March 12, 2020: The Supreme Court of the United States announced that it would remain closed to the public indefinitely.[51]
• April 1, 2020: The Bureau of Prisons announced it was instituting a 14-day lockdown of all prison inmates. According to TIME, the order affected 22 facilities and 146,000 inmates.[20]
• April 3, 2020: The Supreme Court of the United States postponed the oral arguments scheduled for its April sitting. The court was scheduled to hear eight cases from April 20 to April 29.[18]
• April 13, 2020: The Supreme Court of the United States announced it would hear 13 cases by teleconference in May. The court announced it would release live audio of the proceedings to the public for the first time in history.
• April 21, 2020: President Donald Trump (R) announced that he would sign an executive order temporarily suspending immigration to the United States due to the coronavirus pandemic.[2]
•  All states have suspended in-person court proceedings (a detailed overview of court proceeding suspensions can be found on Ballotpedia)

• Ballotpedia's coverage of how coronavirus is affecting America's political and civic life

• March 13, 2020: Trump declared a national emergency under the Stafford Act.[49]

• Ballotpedia's coverage of how coronavirus is affecting America's political and civic life

• April 14, 2020: Trump announced that the U.S. was suspending funding to the World Health Organization pending a review of the group's actions in response to the coronavirus.[8]

• Ballotpedia's coverage of how coronavirus is affecting America's political and civic life
• Stafford Act