Question  Are stay-at-home orders and state-level proportion of African American residents associated with coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) infection rates?

Findings  In this cross-sectional study including 3023 daily state-level observations from March to May 2020, results from multivariate regression models indicated that stay-at-home orders were associated with reductions in cumulative COVID-19 case rates. States with larger African American populations had higher COVID-19 case rates.

Meaning  These findings underscore the importance of stay-at-home orders in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to address racial disparities in rates of infection.