COVID-19: which areas of American life have returned to normality?

A recent report shows that America is beginning to feel more 'normal' for citizens.
Image: Unsplash/Priscilla Du Preez
Explore and monitor how COVID-19 is affecting economies, industries and global issues
Stay up to date:
COVID-19
- A recent Gallup report has shown that the lives of Americans are returning to normal, as they begin to stop taking measures such as social distancing.
- Just under 60% of the U.S. public have said socializing with friends and family has returned to complete normality.
- Other areas of life such as travel have a long way to go, however, with only 29% of respondents reporting that this is normal.
A recent report from Gallup has found that increasing numbers of Americans are putting the pandemic behind them and dropping measures such as social distancing or avoiding socializing. Gallup states that fewer than one in five Americans (18 percent) now say they are mostly or completely isolating themselves from nonhousehold members compared to a peak of 75 percent at the early stages of the pandemic last April.
Some aspects of life are returning to normality quicker than others. Just under 60 percent of the U.S. public state that socializing with friends and family have returned to complete normality while 52 percent say the same for shopping. The pandemic's toll on health is still evident with 43 and 39 percent of people stating that their physical and mental health have returned to complete normality, respectively. Travel also still has a long way to go with only 29 percent of Gallup's respondents reporting that this aspect of their lives is completely normal.
What is the World Economic Forum doing about access to vaccines?
Accept our marketing cookies to access this content.
These cookies are currently disabled in your browser.
Don't miss any update on this topic
Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.
License and Republishing
World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.
Forum Stories newsletter
Bringing you weekly curated insights and analysis on the global issues that matter.
More on Health and Healthcare SystemsSee all
Carolina Aguilar
June 5, 2025
Ira Martopullo and Paulo Neves
May 30, 2025
Shyam Bishen
May 27, 2025