Stay-at-home orders in major states mark next phase of U.S. coronavirus crisis

A message about protecting yourself from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is seen on an electronic billboard in a nearly empty Times Square in Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S., March 20, 2020. REUTERS/Mike Segar

LOS ANGELES/NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York state, Illinois and Connecticut on Friday followed California in directing tens of millions of people to stay at home in the most sweeping U.S. social-distancing measures yet imposed for the escalating campaign to curb transmission of the coronavirus.

The unprecedented restrictions, impacting more than 75 million people, or nearly a quarter of the U.S. population, order most workplaces to close and require residents to remain inside except for trips to grocery stores, pharmacies, gas stations and other "essential businesses."