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KUNC is here to keep you up-to-date on the news about COVID-19 — the disease caused by the novel coronavirus — Colorado's response to its spread in our state and its impact on Coloradans.

Coronavirus: When Your State Doesn’t Shelter In Place

Arkansas is one of the few states not under stay-at-home orders. We talk to Governor Asa Hutchinson about why that is.
Arkansas is one of the few states not under stay-at-home orders. We talk to Governor Asa Hutchinson about why that is.

President Donald Trump acknowledged this week that America will likely see between 100,000 and 240,000 deaths from coronavirus, many in the next month.

“I want every American to be prepared for the hard days that lie ahead,” Trump said during a press briefing on Tuesday. “We’re going to go through a very rough two weeks.”

Those death projections assume that the entire country institutes stay-at-home orders by the end of next week. But roughly 20 percent of the United States does not have statewide orders to stay at home. Governors in Arkansas, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota haven’t issued them.

In the meantime, mayors and county officials are stepping into the breach and issuing their own directives on social distancing and staying home.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of ordering residents to stay home? We talk to Governor Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas about his decision to resist a statewide order — and what he says his constituents should do instead.

Copyright 2020 WAMU 88.5. To see more, visit WAMU 88.5.

Danielle Knight, James Morrison
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