Coronavirus: Majority of Americans expect safe public gatherings won’t happen until July or later, poll says

One quarter of Americans expect gathering to cease until 2021

Americans’ expectations for when they can hold safe public gatherings of 10 people or more has slipped to July at the earliest, according to a Washington Post-University of Maryland poll.

Two of three residents are now saying they don’t expect public gatherings to be allowed until July or later.

The poll also found nearly one quarter of Americans believed public gatherings of 10 people or more would not occur until 2021. About one in five people said they thought it was currently safe to participate in gatherings.

These findings suggest that a majority of the country remains concerned about how the novel virus has spread through communities even though 48 states have already started reopening processes.

Although state officials, and members of the federal government, have pushed for parts to reopen in an effort to help the economy, confidence among residents that life could return to some semblance of normalcy remains uncertain.

A previous poll taken in mid-April also asked about when Americans thought large gatherings could resume across the country, The Washington Post reported. At the time, people were more optimistic.

About 51 per cent of Americans said they thought it would be safe by the end of June for gatherings of 10 people or more.

But the coronavirus cases have since risen to more than 1.3 million confirmed infections and 83,150 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University, which encouraged 66 per cent of poll respondents to say it would take longer to gather safely.

The poll found more Democrats than Republicans thought safe gatherings wouldn’t happen until July or later, with 80 per cent forming that opinion compared to 51 per cent from the contrasting party.

Although there was a divide among parties, each saw an uptake in people pushing back their date of when social gatherings might be safe. Both parties rose by 26 points towards and the opinion among independents rose by 14 points.

A majority of Americans, 58 per cent, also believed current restrictions on restaurants, retail stores, and other business should remain. Then 21 per cent believed the restrictions are too strict while 20 per cent say they’re not restrictive enough.

Even as states started to reopen, most of the country was set on continuing social distancing measures and other practices to help curb the spread of the novel virus.

Eight in 10 Americans said in the poll they thought everyone should wear masks and 86 per cent of people said everyone should maintain six feet in distance from others when out in public.

The poll conducted took information from a random national sample of 1,007 Americans and has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.