Strict social distancing at pandemic low of 18 percent: Gallup

The trend of Americans going out of their way to keep their distance from one another appears to be fading. 

Fewer than 1 in 5 respondents, 18 percent, say they are “completely or mostly” isolating themselves from nonhousehold members, according to a new Gallup poll. 

The percentage of people who indicated they were practicing strict social distancing peaked at 75 percent in April 2020, but fell to 38 percent in March 2021 and 22 percent in May. 

Almost half of all those polled, about 47 percent, now say they made “no attempt whatsoever” to separate themselves from nonhousehold members in the past day.

Another 15 percent of U.S. residents indicated their lives are “completely back to normal,” Gallup noted, with 62 percent describing it as “somewhat back to normal.” 

Nearly every state and most private businesses have dropped distancing requirements implemented at the onset of the pandemic, as more Americans get vaccinated. 

More than half of all U.S. adults have gotten at least one coronavirus vaccine shot, federal health officials say, and mask-wearing recommendations from the federal government have been dropped for inoculated adults. 

Public health officials have warned, however, that the delta variant of the coronavirus has become the dominant strain in the U.S., saying it his highly contagious and still poses a risk to unvaccinated Americans. 

The Gallup poll was conducted June 14-20 among 4,843 adults. It has a margin of error of 2 percentage points.