Stay-at-home orders and recommended personal protective practices were disseminated to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in the United States. This CDC report presents findings from a collection of representative, web-based panel surveys conducted among 2,402 adults aged ≥18 years in New York City (NYC) and Los Angeles, and broadly across the United States during May 5–12, 2020.

They surveys found widespread support of stay-at-home orders and nonessential business closures and high degree of adherence to COVID-19 mitigation guidelines. Widespread adherence to recommended COVID-19 mitigation strategies was reported in all three cohorts.

Specifically:

• 79.5% of respondents in the U.S. cohort supported government-issued stay-at-home orders and nonessential business closures, whereas 86.7% in NYC and 81.5% in Los Angeles supported these measures.
• 67.3% of respondents in the United States, 76.6% in NYC, and 69.1% in Los Angeles agreed that nonessential workers should stay home
• The majority of respondents in NYC and Los Angeles and broadly across the United States agreed with public health guidelines, including recommendations for maintaining 6 feet of distance between persons (>87% in each area) and limiting gatherings to fewer than 10 persons (>82% in each area)
• Most also agreed that dining inside restaurants should not be allowed, with agreement higher in NYC (81.5%) than in Los Angeles (71.8%) and in the United States overall (66.6%).
• Overall, 77.3% of adults nationwide reported self-isolating, with 84.6% reporting this behavior in NYC and 83.0% in Los Angeles.
• 79.5% in the United States also reported the behavior of always or often keeping ≥6 feet apart from others, with higher percentages reporting this behavior in NYC (85.7%) and Los Angeles (82.6%)
• 85% of adults in all 3 cohorts reported always or often avoiding groups of 10 or more persons
• Approximately 90% of respondents reported having been in a public area during the preceding week; among those, 74.1% nationwide reported always or often wearing cloth face coverings when in public, with higher percentages reporting this behavior in NYC (89.6%) and Los Angeles (89.8%).
• 84.3% of adults in the U.S. survey cohort believed their state’s COVID-19 community mitigation strategies were the right balance or not restrictive enough, compared with 89.7% in NYC and 79.7% in Los Angeles
• Most respondents reported that they would feel unsafe if restrictions were lifted at the time of the survey
• There was a significant association between age and feeling safe without community mitigation strategies, with younger adults feeling safer than those aged ≥65 years, which might relate to perceived risk for infection and severe disease