'We can't stay home': how America's poorest state is trying to reopen

The boulevard that snakes along the Biloxi coastline marks a crossroads in the city’s bid to reopen. To the north, towering hotels and casinos, lights dim, doors shut – a sign of a once-booming tourist industry that evaporated overnight last month. To the south, turquoise sea and white sand, hundreds of sunbathers enjoying recently reopened beaches.

In this medium-sized city, known for its hedonistic nightlife and its seafood, most reopening is being done by halves.