As this weekend’s summer solstice marks the official start of the season, data is showing that people are reporting increased general comfort levels at this stage of the pandemic for most day-to-day activities. This week, concern about being in public spaces remained at a low point. Fifty-one percent of U.S. adults are “not at all concerned” about being in public while 48% still have some level of concern.
Comfort dining out and shopping in stores both reached record high points this week. Three in four adults say they’d feel safe dining at restaurants right now while 8 in 10 adults are comfortable shopping in stores.
After several weeks of improvement, comfort traveling experienced a dip this week. Sixty percent of U.S. adults say they’d feel safe/comfortable traveling or going on a vacation right now (down from 66% week over week).
Traveling was once seen as one of the riskiest activities earlier in the pandemic so it’s not surprising that there is still significant concern among certain groups. Men are much more comfortable traveling right now than women. Women are more likely to want to wait for six or more months before traveling again.
Self-identified Republicans are much more likely to be comfortable traveling right now, with over 3 in 4 comfortable traveling in the month of June.
Income differences come into play as well. Those making less than $50k are the least likely to be comfortable traveling right now.
With summer in full swing, we’ll be tracking how comfort levels are impacted. Want to stay up to date with CivicScience’s weekly COVID-19 Impact Report? Sign up to receive the latest insights and up-to-the-minute data here.