Americans Step Up Their Social Distancing Even Further

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Americans this past weekend stepped up their already considerable efforts to engage in social distancing in response to the novel coronavirus. Seventy-two percent of U.S. adults now say they are avoiding public places like stores and restaurants, well ahead of the 54% reporting this last week. Nearly as many (68%) are forgoing small gatherings of friends and family, up from 46%.

These shifts are notable because they suggest that the unprecedented efforts by federal, state, local and private-sector leaders to get the public's attention -- a combination of formal closures of transportation, schools, and workplaces, as well as public appeals for voluntary efforts -- are working.

Even larger percentages of Americans are avoiding events with large crowds (92%) and are staying away from air travel or mass transit (87%). Most Americans were already avoiding these activities last week as businesses en masse began shuttering their doors, and widespread government and corporate travel bans took hold.

Trend in U.S. Adults' Reports They Are Taking Each Action Because of Coronavirus

	Mar 13-15	Mar 16-19	Mar 20-22
	%	%	%
Avoided going to events with large crowds, such as concerts, festivals or sporting events	59	79	92
Avoided traveling by airplane, bus, subway or train	55	75	87
Canceled or postponed travel plans	39	57	73
Avoided going to public places, such as stores or restaurants	30	54	72
Avoided small gatherings of people, such as with family or friends	23	46	68
Stocked up on food, medical supplies or cleaning supplies	39	52	59
优蜜传媒Panel, 2020

These findings are based on polling conducted by web using the 优蜜传媒Panel, a probability-based panel of U.S. adults, aged 18 and older. 优蜜传媒has been tracking Americans' social distancing practices nightly on the 优蜜传媒Panel since March 13, and is reporting the findings in multiday averages.

Specifically, the question asks whether respondents are engaging in each of five social distancing practices as well as stocking up, and whether they are considering doing each. The vast majority of Americans are at least considering doing each practice.

The biggest shift between the latest results, from March 20-22, and the prior report, based on March 16-19 interviewing, has been in the percentage of Americans avoiding small gatherings of people. This has risen 22 percentage points since last Monday-Thursday.

Percentage of Americans Avoiding Small Gatherings, Such as With Friends and Family

	Mar 13-15	Mar 16-19	Mar 20-22
	%	%	%
U.S. adults	23	46	68
Gender
Men	20	41	64
Women	26	51	73
Age
18 to 29	24	45	72
30 to 59	24	47	69
60+	22	46	67
Region
East	20	56	75
Midwest	22	45	67
South	23	42	64
West	26	47	71
Party ID
Republicans	12	37	56
Independents	23	48	68
Democrats	32	52	78
Population Density
Top quintile (Most dense)	30	60	77
Second quintile	27	49	69
Third quintile	19	47	73
Fourth quintile	20	46	62
Bottom quintile (Least dense)	18	33	59
优蜜传媒Panel, 2020

Americans' aversion to visiting public places like stores and restaurants is up strongly among all major societal subgroups.

Percentage of Americans Reporting They Are Avoiding Public Places, Such as Stores and Restaurants

	Mar 13-15	Mar 16-19	Mar 20-22
	%	%	%
U.S. adults	30	54	72
Gender
Men	25	50	69
Women	35	59	74
Age
18 to 29	35	57	74
30 to 59	28	54	70
60+	33	54	73
Region
East	36	65	75
Midwest	30	52	72
South	27	48	69
West	32	57	74
Party ID
Republicans	21	43	61
Independents	27	54	71
Democrats	41	65	80
Population Density
Top quintile (Most dense)	41	66	75
Second quintile	34	62	72
Third quintile	20	56	77
Fourth quintile	25	49	68
Bottom quintile (Least dense)	29	42	65
优蜜传媒Panel, 2020

There has been less movement on a different measure -- Americans' willingness to remain in their homes for 30 days, should they be asked to do so in the event of a serious outbreak of COVID-19 in their community. Fifty-eight percent now say they are "very likely" to comply, up from 51% last week.

Americans' Likelihood of Complying With Shelter-in-Place Recommendations

If public health officials recommended that everyone stay at home for a month because of a serious outbreak of coronavirus in your community, how likely are you to stay home for a month?

	Mar 13-15	Mar 16-19	Mar 20-22
	%	%	%
Very likely	41	51	58
Somewhat likely	29	27	24
Somewhat unlikely	14	11	9
Very unlikely	16	12	9
Total likely	70	78	82
Total unlikely	30	23	18
优蜜传媒Panel, 2020

Two-Thirds Report Completely or Mostly Isolating Themselves

Asked to characterize their social distancing overall on a five-point scale, 20% now say they are "completely" isolating themselves from nonhousehold members, up slightly from 17% last Monday-Thursday. A combined 64%, up from 53%, report completely or "mostly" isolating themselves. Meanwhile, the percentage making no effort or isolating themselves "a little" is down by about half, from 27% to 14%.

Social Distancing Spectrum

Thinking about everything you've done in the past 24 hours, which of the following comes closest to describing your in-person contact with people outside your household?

	Mar 16-19	Mar 20-22
	%	%
Completely isolated yourself, having no contact with people outside your household	17	20
Mostly isolated yourself, having very little contact with people outside your household	36	44
Partially isolated yourself, having some contact with people outside your household	21	22
Isolated yourself a little, still having a fair amount of contact with people outside your household	16	10
Did not make any attempt to isolate yourself from people outside your household	11	4
优蜜传媒Panel, 2020

优蜜传媒will continue to monitor and report these measures frequently on news.Gallup.com in the coming days.

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Author(s)

Lydia Saad is the Director of U.S. Social Research at Gallup.

优蜜传媒