Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey bucked a trend among governors of Southeastern states Tuesday when she said the state would maintain its stay-at-home order for now to limit the spread of the coronavirus.

Alabama was one of the last Southeastern states to enact a stay-at-home order as the virus spread across the country, but now seems willing to stick to it as other states look to ease their restrictions in the face of growing unemployment.

Governors and local officials have been weaving a delicate dance with the virus since the Trump Administration said it would allow states to control the timeline for reopening. Reopen too soon and the virus could resurge through the population, leading to more COVID-related deaths and potentially an over-taxed health care system and new shutdowns. But the longer the business closures remain in place, the harder it is for those businesses and their employees to stay afloat.

On Tuesday, Ivey pleaded for patience and perseverance.

“What we’re doing is working,” Ivey said. “And I just plead with the people of Alabama, keep doing what you’re doing.”

It was a different tone from three other Southeastern governors who are pushing to allow many businesses to reopen quickly.

Ivey and the governors of Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee, and South Carolina have collaborated and had discussions about reopening, but Ivey said Tuesday that each state would make its own decisions about when and how to reopen.

“Some states are opening sooner than others but every governor is responsible for reading the numbers and doing what they think is best for their state,” Ivey said.

Here’s a look at how those states are proceeding.

Georgia: Bowling alleys reopen Friday

Ivey struck a markedly different tone from Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, who on Monday said businesses like gyms, salons, bowling alleys, massage and tattoo parlors could reopen as soon as Friday if they adhere to social distancing guidelines.

Kemp, like Ivey, was heavily criticized for being slow to implement a stay-at-home order, then faced increasing pressure to ease off on the restrictions once they were in place.

“I believe that this measured approach has got us to the time to trust our people to keep going after and beating this virus but doing it in a way that is responsible,” Kemp said.

Kemp said restaurants could open as early as next week, along with theaters and private social clubs, if they maintained social distancing and sanitation guidelines. Bars and nightclubs would remain closed.

Dr. Deborah Birx, a member of the White House coronavirus task force, when asked how hair salons or in Georgia could operate while adhering to strict social distancing guidelines

“If there’s a way that people can social distance and do those things, then they can do those things,” Birx said. “I don’t know how, but people are very creative.”

Kemp said his order would be in effect statewide, and that no city or county could enact rules that would be more strict than the statewide policy to limit the spread, in what’s seen as the country’s most aggressive rollback so far.

Public health officials and political rivals argue Kemp’s moves will result in more cases and more deaths.

Jeffrey Koplan, a former director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and current vice president of global health at Emory University, said it was too early to assume the worst was over.

“I think it’s dangerous,” Koplan told The Washington Post. “This is no time for this kind of experimentation.”

“This is not good,” state Rep. Bee Ngyuen told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “This is going to get more Georgians killed.”

Georgia has seen 19,881 cases of coronavirus and 798 deaths as of Wednesday morning, but also ranks 42nd in the United States in testing rate, with about 0.8 percent of the population tested so far.

Alabama’s test rate is slightly higher, with the number of tests run just under 1 percent of its population.

Tennessee: Begin easing restrictions next week

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee announced Monday that he would not renew the state’s stay-at home order, which expires on April 30. Alabama’s also expires then, but Ivey did not say yet whether or not it would be extended.

“Social distancing must continue, but our economic shutdown cannot,” Lee said in Tennessee.

Instead, Lee says the state will work with businesses to reopen as early as Monday under certain conditions, though specific plans have not been released.

"The most important thing to me is that people can get back to work and businesses can begin to reopen," Lee said. "The economic difficulty that’s been created by this, it has been devastating to our state, and the sooner we can begin to change that picture, the better."

Lee’s move was painted as political and short-sighted by state Democrats.

Unlike Georgia, Tennessee’s more densely populated cities could impose stricter regulations than the rest of the state. In Nashville, Knoxville, Memphis and Chattanooga, the county health departments can implement their own plans.

Tennessee has seen 7,394 confirmed COVID cases and 157 deaths, as of Wednesday morning.

Tennessee has a higher testing rate than Alabama or Georgia, with the number of tests equal to about 1.5 percent of the population.

South Carolina: Reopening department stores now

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster on Monday rolled back a stay-at-home order he issued on April 7, paving the way for some businesses to reopen immediately.

The new order allowed department stores, as well as retail stores that sell sporting goods, shoes, music, books, jewelry and other businesses to reopen immediately if they follow social distancing guidelines, and allowed local jurisdictions to reopen beaches if they chose to.

“We believe that we can do this, if compliance remains at the high level that it has been, we can do this without endangering the population,” McMaster said.

According to The State newspaper, McMaster based his decision on confidence in South Carolinians’ “common sense,” rather than any specific data point.

South Carolina state epidemiologist Dr. Linda Bell said the risk is still very high.

“We all obviously want to see an economic recovery,” Bell said Monday. “But at the same time we have to, along with that, give the message that the risk of exposure remains for everyone.”

South Carolina was reporting 4,439 cases and 124 deaths. About 0.8 percent of its population has been tested for the virus.

Mississippi: ‘not going to be a light switch’

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves has not announced a formal plan for reopening, although the state reopened some retail businesses for curbside pick-up or delivery sales on April 20.

Reeves said at a press conference Tuesday that he was still evaluating the best way to move forward.

“This is not going to be a light switch that we can turn on,” Reeves said.

Reeves’ stay-at-home order expires April 27.

The state has reported 4716 confirmed cases of the virus and 183 deaths. It has tested 52,364 people for the virus, equal to about 1.75 percent of the population.

Florida: ‘We have flattened the curve’

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declared victory over the virus in a Tuesday press conference, saying that Florida was not like New York or Italy and the worst-case scenarios have not materialized.

“Those predictions have been false," DeSantis said. “Our work is succeeding. We have flattened the curve.”

DeSantis has not released a formal reopening plan yet, but said he expects recommendations from a reopening task force by Friday.

DeSantis gave municipalities the green light to reopen beaches on April 17 with some restrictions about congregating in large groups. Some local areas took immediate action, such as Jacksonville where county officials reopened the beaches.

Florida has seen 27,869 COVID cases and 867 deaths. It has reported 282,340 tests, roughly 1.2 percent of its population.

Alabama: Ivey facing pressure to reopen

Since last week, pressure has been building within the state to reopen, from public officials like U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks and Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth, while U.S. Sen. Doug Jones commended Ivey Tuesday for her comments on the crisis.

During the press conference Tuesday, Ivey said the medical team led by the Alabama Department of Public Health would determine when it was safe to allow businesses that had been ordered closed to prevent the spread of the virus to reopen.

“Our first priority is worrying about the health of our people and getting our COVID-19 numbers down so we can go back to work,” Ivey said.

Ivey said the number of people tested so far in Alabama was less than one percent of the population, and that was one reason for maintaining the current restrictions.

“Until we get enough testing done we can’t fully reopen the economy,” Ivey said.

Ivey’s press conference came on the same day CDC Director Robert Redfield warned that a second wave of the virus this winter could be even worse than the first wave, if it coincided with the regular flu season. As of Wednesday morning, 41,758 Americans had died of coronavirus, with 776,093 confirmed cases.

Nationwide, the number of new confirmed cases are up and down, with the country seeing between 20,000 and 35,000 new cases each day in April. The rapid increase in new cases has plateaued, but has not declined sharply yet in the United States as it has in other countries.

Protests have begun popping up urging states to end or ease restrictions, but at least one poll, a Reuters-Ipsos survey released Tuesday night, showed 72 percent of Americans surveyed supported continued restrictions “until the doctors and public health officials say it is safe.”