The basics of a “shelter-in-place” order during the coronavirus pandemic are fairly clear: Stay at home.

But as cities, states and the federal government take increasingly aggressive moves to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus, the precise details of a “shelter-in-place” order and its many exceptions for “essential activities” may soon become familiar to millions of Americans across the country.
Already, nearly 7 million people living in a wide swath of Northern California are under a “shelter-in-place” order, which began Monday night.