NEW YORK (NYTIMES) - New York officials faced mounting pressure on Sunday (March 15) to impose a broader shutdown on nonessential parts of the city, including bars and restaurants, as other leaders across the nation were being similarly challenged to suppress the spread of the coronavirus.

From California to Washington, DC, governors and mayors grappled with how far government should go in constricting people's daily lives to keep them home, warning Americans to prepare to "hunker down".

A patchwork of recent measures - mandatory curfews in Puerto Rico and Hoboken, New Jersey; the closing of restaurant and bar dining rooms in Ohio and Illinois; and the closure of public schools in several states, including Minnesota, South Carolina and Rhode Island - was a sign that the restrictive interventions could soon become the norm nationwide.

Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Sunday afternoon that all public schools would close as early as Monday on Long Island and in Westchester and New York City, which operates the largest public school system in the nation.

About half of the known coronavirus cases in the nation have been in Washington state, California and New York, where the number of confirmed positive results rose to 729.

The moves dovetailed with a warning issued on Sunday by Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who said that people were "going to have to hunker down significantly more than we as a country are doing".

He suggested a 14-day federal shutdown could be warranted down the road and urged young people to practice social distancing out of fear they could spread the disease to older people.

"There are going to be people who are young who are going to wind up getting seriously ill," he said.

But while many government and health officials urged people to observe social distancing, some Americans have ignored those pleas, with revellers still flooding restaurants and some officials, including Governor Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma, sending out contradictory messaging.

Mr Stitt posted a photo on Twitter last Saturday showing himself and his children eating at a crowded restaurant; he deleted the post after receiving significant backlash.

A similar response greeted Representative Devin Nunes of California after he encouraged families to dine out, saying on Fox News on Sunday that it was "a great time to go out and go to a local restaurant - likely you can get in easy".

Two days earlier, New York state had implemented a ban on large gatherings and established rules to reduce capacity at places like restaurants with occupancies of fewer than 500 people.

In Washington state, officials recently implemented a ban on large-scale gatherings, while major school districts in California, including Los Angeles, the nation's second-largest school district, announced shutdowns affecting hundreds of thousands of students.

But the measures already in place in New York did not seem to be having their desired effect: A handful of elected officials called for a total shutdown of bars and restaurants following reports of large crowds over the weekend.

"I am alarmed at the cavalier attitude of most New Yorkers who still don't seem to understand what's about to hit us and what we need to slow it," Councilman Mark Levine, who is chairman of the Council Health Committee, said on Sunday morning.

Mr Levine, along with a handful of City Council members, including Mr Corey Johnson, the Council speaker, as well as the city comptroller, Mr Scott Stringer, expressed outrage that people ignored officials' pleas to stay home and instead converged at clubs and bars.

The officials, using the hashtag #shutdownNYC on Twitter, described the disregard of social distancing as reckless behaviour.

By noon on Sunday, as support for a larger shutdown crescendoed on social media, Mr Johnson joined the campaign, calling for the closure of schools, restaurants and bars.

"We must be bold, but we must also be prepared," Mr Johnson said in a statement. "We need to make sure impacted businesses like bars are able to survive and employees are taken care of until we're back to normal."

Mr Johnson, a Democrat, said that grocery stores, bodegas, pharmacies and banks should remain open. He said all levels of government should intervene to ease the losses of business owners, provide financial assistance to affected workers and help parents with childcare.

Indeed, federal officials and governors alike are wrestling with the most effective way to protect Americans hurt by the pandemic, with proposals put forth to temporarily halt evictions, expand paid sick leave and offer flexibility on unpaid utility bills.

President Donald Trump has offered reassurances multiple times, saying he is committed to protecting small business owners, while members of Congress consider an emergency relief package to bolster the safety net for families and workers.

In Maine, the governor submitted emergency legislation on Sunday to expand eligibility for unemployment insurance, while the seven-day waiting period for unemployment insurance was recently waived in New York.

Mr Cuomo and the New York City mayor, Mr Bill de Blasio, both Democrats, resisted calls for a more sweeping shutdown on Sunday but acknowledged that more far-reaching restrictions are being considered.

Mr Cuomo called on business to shutter voluntarily, as has happened in Boston, Cleveland and other parts of the nation.

"I'm asking them voluntarily to shut down their bar, their restaurant, their gymnasium," Mr Cuomo said. "Let's see what they do. If nobody does it, then we can take more actions."

Earlier this week, Mr Cuomo banned events of more than 500 people while curtailing the capacity of business establishments that hold fewer than 500 people, like restaurants and bars, to less than 50 per cent.

He said on Sunday that if businesses were defying the density rules, the police should be called, and businesses could be shut down.

But as the number of confirmed cases of the new coronavirus rose in New York, some elected officials stressed the urgency and necessity of a broader ban to keep people from gathering, pointing to strict measures across the Hudson River.

Officials in Hoboken last Saturday ordered the closure of all gyms, health clubs, daycare centres and movie theatres, and issued an indefinite curfew. Bars that do not serve food will have to shut down as of Sunday morning. Restaurants can offer takeout and delivery but will have to shut their dining rooms. As of Monday night, residents will be under curfew from 10pm until 5am.

Asked about the shutdown calls in New York City, Mr de Blasio did not rule out enacting more aggressive actions to restrict social interactions.

"Every option is on the table," Mr de Blasio said on CNN's State of the Union programme, adding that combating the virus was "unlike anything we have dealt with in our memory".

His remarks were a sign of the fast-paced fluidity of the situation and officials' morphing response to it: Last Saturday, the mayor said he was not ready to support broader restrictions and business closures.

"History shows us that in crisis, relatively few people have a perfect, absolutely tried and true plan," Mr de Blasio had said. "I am not ready today at this hour to say, let's have a city with no bars, no restaurants, no rec centres, no libraries. I'm not there."

For days, Mr de Blasio has faced calls to close public schools, a move he had been reluctant to make, arguing that it could lead to classes being cancelled for the entire year. He had raised concerns about what cancelling classes would mean for parents who cannot afford childcare and children who depend on school for their meals.

In Albany, state legislators were still planning on returning to the state Capitol on Monday, even after two members of the Assembly who represent parts of Brooklyn - Ms Helene Weinstein and Mr Charles Barron - tested positive for the virus.

Some lawmakers raised concerns about that prospect, considering the often close quarters in the legislative chambers as well as conference rooms where members meet, but Mr Cuomo was adamant that lawmakers should return to the capital, likening it to service in war times.

"Should the military not show up? Should the police officers not show up?" the governor said, adding, "If we can ask nurses to put on a hazmat suit and take blood, we can ask elected officials to come and sit at a desk and vote on a piece of legislation."

Mr Cuomo, who announced last Saturday that the statehouse would be closed to visitors, said he needed the Legislature to be present to authorise the laws and the measures the state may need to fight the outbreak.

"We need soldiers to fight the war," he said. "Government must function because government is doing all of this. Government goes home, none of this happens."