Most Texans have expressed reservations about returning to a normal way of life, with most saying they would not feel comfortable going to a restaurant even with social distancing measures in place in a recent poll shared with East Texas Matters.
Nexstar Media and Emerson College surveyed Texans about their feelings about returning to normalcy as the state begins allowing businesses to reopen. The vast majority of Texans said that no one they know has tested positive for the coronavirus, including themselves, but most in the state are not comfortable going to a restaurant even if it’s not operating at full capacity.
- 20% have tested positive for the coronavirus, or know someone who has.
- 80% have not tested positive and don’t know anyone who has.
- 60% would not feel comfortable at a restaurant that has spacing precautions. 40% would feel comfortable doing so.
- 68% would not feel comfortable going to a gym with spacing precautions. 32% would feel comfortable.
“I think that all kinds of plays into ‘you can open up the economy, but you need the people to show up.’ And that’s going to be, I think, a bit of a drag as things reopen, people are having confidence and feeling comfortable walking into these establishments,” said Spencer Kimball, Emerson College assistant professor and the director of Emerson College Polling.
“It also obviously impacts the economy greatly because in the hospitality industry like restaurants, if you have 60% of people saying they no longer are comfortable going to a restaurant, just think about all of those jobs that aren’t going to be there when this epidemic is over,” he added.
Nexstar and Emerson surveyed 800 people from May 8 to May 10, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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