Americans Hesitant to Return to Normal in Short Term

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- If being out in public were entirely up to them at this moment during the global pandemic, 14% of Americans say they would resume their normal day-to-day activities right now, but the rest would hold off:

• 42% would wait until the number of new cases of COVID-19 declines significantly
• 38% would wait until there are no new cases for some period of time
• 7% would wait until a vaccine is developed

These findings are from an online probability-based Gallup Panel survey conducted March 27-29.

Most Would Delay Normalcy Even After Government Lifts Orders

Currently, most Americans are not free to decide about interacting in public, as they are living under state-ordered restrictions to limit their personal contact with others. Gallup also asked Americans to consider their willingness to return to normal once such government restrictions are formally lifted.

Even on this basis, about one in five (22%) say they would resume their normal daily activities "immediately." Seven in 10 would "wait to see what happens with the spread of the virus before resuming," and 9% would continue to limit their social contact "indefinitely."

Some of Americans' reluctance to go back to normal can be explained by their fear that they, themselves, would be at risk of experiencing severe COVID-19 symptoms. Nearly half say it is "very likely" (11%) or "likely" (37%) that they would face this risk.

Importantly, there is a strong correlation between Americans' estimate of their personal risk and their readiness to return to normal.

• Among those who say it's "very likely" they would suffer severe symptoms, 71% say they would continue to practice social distancing (even if there were no government restrictions) until there are no new cases or a vaccine is developed.
• Among those who say it's "likely" they'd experience severe symptoms, that percentage drops to 50%. For those who consider their chances of being very sick "unlikely," it falls to 36% -- and to 22% among those who describe their chances of severe illness as "very unlikely."
• By contrast, 44% of those who think it's very unlikely that they would experience severe symptoms say they would return to their normal activities right now.

	Very unlikely	Unlikely	Likely	Very likely
	%	%	%	%
Right now	44	15	8	9
After the number of new cases declines significantly	34	49	42	20
After there are no new cases for a period of time	17	32	42	58
After a coronavirus vaccine is developed	5	4	8	13
"Return to normal activities" question wording: If there were no government restrictions and people were able to decide for themselves about being out in public, how soon would you return to your normal day-to-day activities? "Likelihood of severe symptoms" question wording: If you were infected by the coronavirus, how likely do you think it is that you would get severe symptoms?
Gallup Panel, March 27-29, 2020

Another factor that could influence Americans' comfort level in resuming normal public outings for the foreseeable future is their sense of control over being infected. The public has been advised that they can do this by maintaining a six-foot distance from others, refraining from touching their face, regularly washing their hands, and other means. The majority of Americans feel "very confident" (10%) or "somewhat confident" (54%) that they can protect themselves from COVID-19 when out in public, while over a third say they are "not too confident" (30%) or "not confident at all" (6%).

Among Americans who are very or somewhat confident about being able to shield themselves, the majority would be willing to resume their normal activities, if there were no government restrictions, either "right now" or "after the number of new cases declines significantly." By contrast, the majority of those who are not confident in their ability to protect themselves would wait until all new cases have ceased or a vaccine is ready.

	Very confident	Somewhat confident	Not too confident	Not confident at all
	%	%	%	%
Right now	29	15	7	9
After the number of new cases declines significantly	39	45	39	38
After there are no new cases for a period of time	26	35	45	42
After a coronavirus vaccine is developed	6	5	10	11
"Return to normal activities" question wording: If there were no government restrictions and people were able to decide for themselves about being out in public, how soon would you return to your normal day-to-day activities? "Confidence in protect yourself" question wording: How confident are you that you can protect yourself when out in public from being infected by the coronavirus?
Gallup Panel, March 27-29, 2020

Demographic Differences in Reluctance to Normalize

A slight majority of Democrats (56%), residents of the Northeast (53%) and adults who are not employed (51%) indicate they would wait until there are no new cases or until a vaccine is developed before returning to normal daily life. By contrast, the majority of Republicans (69%), independents (59%) and employed adults (60%) are willing to return to normal sooner.

	Right now	After new cases decline significantly	After no new cases for a period of time	After vaccine is developed
	%	%	%	%
U.S. adults	14	42	38	7
Men	19	42	31	8
Women	9	42	44	5
18-29 years old	20	33	40	7
30-49 years old	13	48	32	7
50-64 years old	16	38	40	7
65 and older	10	41	45	5
College graduate	7	50	37	6
Not college graduate	17	39	38	6
Democrat	5	39	50	6
Independent/Other	18	41	30	11
Republican	22	47	28	3
City	13	46	36	4
Suburb	11	41	40	7
Small town/Rural	16	41	36	7
Northeast	9	39	48	5
Midwest	14	44	37	5
South	15	42	36	7
West	15	44	33	8
Employed	15	45	34	5
Not employed	11	38	43	8
Gallup Panel, March 27-29, 2020

View complete question responses and trends (PDF download).

Learn more about how the Gallup Panel works.