Most still leery about big gatherings.
As the coronavirus spreads across the country, Americans are curbing their expectations about when it will be safe for gatherings of 10 or more people, with about 2-in-3 adults now saying it will not be until July or later before those events can happen, according to a Washington PostUniversity of Maryland poll.
The findings provide more evidence that Americans remain worried about the threat of the virus and cautious about efforts to lift stay-at-home restrictions and to reopen businesses, even as many governors have begun to move in that direction.
In the face of plans in many states to gradually ease those limitations, significant majorities of Americans continue to emphasize the need for social distancing and other safety measures.
Fully half of all Americans say in the poll that they think it will not be safe for gatherings of 10 or more until midsummer, including nearly one-quarter who say it will not be safe until 2021 or later. Just 1-in-5 say they believe such gatherings are safe now or will be by the end of this month.
The timeline has shifted substantially in just the past few weeks, as the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths continue to rise. In a similar poll in mid-April, 51 percent of all Americans said they thought gatherings of 10 or more people would be safe by the end of June. That has fallen to 32 percent in the latest survey, with 66 percent saying it will take longer for gatherings to be safe.
Democrats still envision a longer timetable before safe gatherings can occur than do Republicans, with 80 percent of Democrats and 54 percent of Republicans saying opening by the end of July or later now seems likely. But there has been a shift in perceptions across the political spectrum since mid-April.
Among both Democrats and Republicans, the percentages who say gatherings won’t be safe until July or later have risen by 26 percentage points. Among independents, the increase is 14 points.
The findings about safe gatherings continue to be heavily shaped not just by partisanship, but also by persistent personal concerns about contracting the virus and becoming seriously ill as a result.
Overall, 58 percent of Americans say they are very or somewhat worried about getting the infection and becoming seriously ill, down from 63 percent last week but similar to 57 percent three weeks ago.
Among those Americans who worry about getting the virus, 80 percent say it will not be safe for gatherings of 10 or more people before July, with most of them saying it will be later this year or beyond. Among those not particularly worried, 51 percent say they think gatherings of that size will be safe by the end of June, and more than 1-in-3 say it will be safe by the end of this month.
Although Republicans and Republican-leaning independents are significantly less worried about becoming seriously ill — 44 percent compared with 68 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaners — those worries carve sharp divisions within partisan groups.
Among Republicans who are less worried about becoming sick, more than 6in-10 believe gatherings of 10 or more will be safe by the end of June. But among Republicans who are personally worried, more than 7in-10 expect it to take until at least July.
Despite the visibility of angry protests over coronavirus closures, most Americans remain cautious about reopening their state economy.
A 58 percent majority say current restrictions on restaurants, stores and other businesses in their state are appropriate, with 20 percent saying they are not restrictive enough and 21 percent saying they are too restrictive.