On March 19, California became the first state to implement a statewide stay-at-home order. The order banned residents from leaving their home for nonessential reasons in an effort to halt the spread of COVID-19. Since then, 41 other states have followed suit, imposing their own orders and restrictions, ultimately putting more than 300 million Americans under stay-at-home or shelter-in-place orders. 

Now, as medical experts believe the numbers of new daily cases of the virus are peaking across much of the country, states are beginning to lift these orders, ease restrictions, and slowly restart their economies. As of May 8, more than half of all states have begun easing shutdown restrictions, and a handful of other states will soon join their ranks. 

24/7 Wall St. reviewed state government websites and statements from elected officials to determine when each state plans on lifting stay-at-home orders. Supplemental information on school closings and traveler quarantine rules came from the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit public health policy think tank. 

While medical and public health experts have been studying the coronavirus for months, much remains unknown about the novel coronavirus and COVID-19, the disease the virus causes. Many fear that lifting restrictions and opening businesses too rapidly will lead to a second wave of infections that could eclipse the first.

As a result, while many state governors have chosen a specific date on which to lift stay-at-home orders, they are also acknowledging that these dates could change and that reopening remains contingent on several factors, including testing capacity and long-term declines in hospitalizations. Here is a look at the states where the virus is growing the fastest right now. 

Governors and policy makers are eager to lift restrictions because the economic harm resulting from the stay-at-home orders is proving to be catastrophic. The monthly unemployment rate hit 14.7% in April, a level not seen since the Great Depression. Here is a look at every state’s unemployment claims since COVID-19 shut down the economy.

Click here to see when every state plans to reopen after COVID-19 restrictions are lifted