How to use the COVID Restriction Data Tool
To generate a table with a particular county’s data, you first need to select the state in which the county is located. Once you select a state or a state and county, a table will be displayed showing you the dates on which various restrictions were imposed or lifted. The state-level columns indicate when a statewide order went into effect or was lifted. The county columns cover any order that was not applied state-wide. If you see a date in the county column, it may have come from an order issued at either the state or the county level.
Information For Reading This Data
Sample data from Alpine & Los Angeles Counties California
The table below lists the state and county government actions for which we are collecting data. (You can retrieve data from any county in the US via drop-down menus after you click in the box below verifying that you are not a robot.) State and county rules are reported separately. If a date is listed in the state’s row, we believe it is the date a state first imposed or lifted a particular restriction that was applied statewide.
Business closures and openings reflect restrictions on businesses other than bars, restaurants, gyms, or spas. (They have their own entries.) We use each jurisdiction’s own rules for phased reopenings to define business reopening Phases 1, 2, etc... Because every state has its own way to define the re-opening phases, the categories provided in the table attempt to capture the national spectrum of emergency responses and re-openings. If you believe that another interpretation of a particular state’s phases is appropriate, we welcome your feedback.
If any businesses (other than restaurants, bars, gyms, or spas) were allowed to open and then ordered closed again, the reversal is listed as a Re-opening Reversed. Partial closures such as a capacity reduction are not included.
Restaurants, bars, gyms, spas, retail, and movie theaters are considered separately. We track closures as well as indoor capacity limits for each of these. The outdoor-only restrictions apply only to bars and restaurants. We code gyms, spas, retail, and movie theaters as closed if they cannot offer indoor services.
If gathering limits differ for indoor and outdoor activities, we take the maximum of the two limits.
Beaches and parks are listed as closed only if they are completely closed to the public. For example, closing just a park’s playground would not cause us to list the park as closed. If there is a state or national park in a particular county, we list the closure under the county where the park is located.
The Announcements tab displays data on both State of Emergency and Stay at Home orders.
The Masks tab displays mask recommendations and mandates for businesses and residents. Residential mandates are split into those that only apply indoors and those that apply to both indoors and outdoors.
The Medical tab displays rules restricting nursing home visits and those that prohibit elective medical procedures. We let the counties and states define what an elective medical procedure is or is not. We record an order under this category if the local states that the goal is to ban elective medical procedures, however, they define it.
