Absent sweeping quarantine plans at the federal level, state and local officials are combatting the coronavirus pandemic, leaving an inconsistent plan of attack that varies between state lines and, in some areas, school districts.

All 50 states have declared states of emergency, and several states have sought major disaster declarations from the White House to activate critically needed aid to support their rapidly depleting resources, from diminished stocks of medical supplies to a lack of hospital beds.

These three maps illustrate how states are facing the Covid-19 crisis.

New York has emerged as the "epicentre" of coronavirus transmissions, Governor Andrew Cuomo has said. Nearly 400 people in the state have died as of Thursday, with a spike in 100 reported deaths over the last 24 hours. There are more than 33,000 confirmed cases in the state, including more than 21,000 in New York City.

The state has also led the US in testing, with more than 103,000 tests performed.

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New Jersey has more than 4,400 confirmed cases. California and Washington state — which experienced the first confirmed case in the US — have also experienced surges in cases.

Quarantine efforts in California, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Washington state, West Virginia and Wisconsin appear to be the most comprehensive yet, with closures of all bars and restaurants and bans of all gatherings, in addition to school closures.

Mississippi and Oklahoma, however, have not imposed any quarantine efforts other than school closures.

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Schools in California, North Dakota and New Jersey schools are closed until further.

Kansas, Oklahoma and Virginia schools have closed through at least the end of the academic year, which ends this spring.

Schools in most other states are closed until May, though officials are eyeing likely returns to campuses in the fall, at earliest.

School closures and re-openings in Iowa, Nebraska and Maine were determined at the district level.

Nationwide closures have created other problems and exposed significant gaps in social safety nets, including meals for children from low-income households who rely on school meal plans, to families experiencing homelessness who have been ordered to shelter in place.

Lack of comprehensive child care and sick leave has made it difficult for parents and caregivers who continue to work to juggle caring for out-of-school children.

Many public school districts have made free meals available for pickup throughout the week on their campuses.

The closures also present unique challenges for teachers moving to online classes and remote learning for dozens of students in their care, and how to support students without computers or reliable internet access

Administrators and school districts also are determining what safe re-openings look like for their campuses, how to administer crucial exams and the state of class graduations as students prepare to enroll in the 2020-2021 school year

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The recently passed Families First Coronavirus Response Act is the first federal-level paid sick leave policy in the US.

Employees with coronavirus can receive up to two weeks of paid leave for up to 100 per cent of their salary (up to $511 a day) and another 10 weeks of paid family and medical leave at 67 per cent of their pay rate for people caring for sick family members.

But it doesn't apply to people who work in a company that employs more than 500 people, which is nearly 50 per cent of American workers.

Business owners can try to exempt themselves from the law if they believe the policy will put them out of business.

Absent an overarching federal law for decades, those policies were largely left up to individual businesses until relatively recently, as states began passing legislation for mandatory paid sick leave.

Only 13 states and Washington DC have laws requiring companies to provide coronavirus sick leave, patching up some loopholes in the federal law.