New York Joins California as Millions More Americans Are Ordered to Stay Home

In the Bay Area, the first region to get a shelter-in-place order, cities have spent the past week wrestling with the question of what can remain open, and the bureaucracy — or lack of it — for deciding borderline cases.

Grocery stores and pharmacies are obviously essential, but what about bike repair shops, which many people need for transportation, or cannabis dispensaries, whose goods many consider medicine? In Alameda County, which surrounds Oakland, cities have asked the county health department for guidance, which in turn told cities that the decision is left to individual businesses. Thus, some establishments are closing, others are not, and cities — which are already overloaded with issues of public health and safety — are left to decide how to enforce rules that are mostly unclear.

In Los Angeles, an order signed by Mayor Eric Garcetti was explicit in which businesses can remain open, and included cannabis dispensaries, news media outlets, bicycle and auto repair shops, funeral homes and some farmers’ markets. Gun shops, which have seen a surge in business as the pandemic has spread, will close under the order.

On Friday, Californians kept some semblance of normal routines. In Los Angeles, residents were allowed to walk their dogs or go for a hike in the many canyons and hills around the city. And office workers were allowed to go to their offices on Friday and collect their belongings so they can begin working from home. But in a sprawling city where navigating traffic is a daily headache, for days the city has felt empty, its famous freeways uncluttered, with drivers able to get almost anywhere in less than a half-hour.

Officials said they did not expect to be heavy-handed on enforcement. In Los Angeles, the police can enforce the order by issuing misdemeanor tickets, but the authorities say they are counting on residents to abide by the rules out of social pressure. Mr. Garcetti said any residents who see someone violating the order should take it upon themselves to ask the offender to comply, although he added he is not looking for “tattletales around the city.”

“It’s a very light touch,” he said. “This is on 10 million people to self-enforce.”