Gallup Poll: Americans Less Likely to Wear Masks at Indoor Private Gatherings

Americans are less likely to wear a mask indoors at private gatherings with non-household members than they are in public, a Gallup poll released Monday found.

Many political figures, particularly Democrats such as New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), have advised Americans to remain vigilant, even when gathering in the privacy of one’s home in the era of the Chinese coronavirus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), for example, advised Americans to wear masks at Thanksgiving and has since urged Americans to wear masks at holiday gatherings that feature more than one household.

While Gallup’s survey, released Monday, showed that a majority of Americans, 56 percent, wear masks while indoors with members of a different household, that is far less than the 89 percent who said they “always” or “usually” wear masks while inside a store or business.

Nineteen percent said they “never” wear a mask when they are indoors with friends or family members who are not in their household, 12 percent said they “rarely” do, and 13 percent said they “sometimes” do.

The survey was taken November 1-6, among 5,026 respondents.

Gov. Cuomo scolded New Yorkers after the Thanksgiving holiday after many gathered with their friends and family in their private homes. Sixty-five percent of cases — a percentage he later updated to 70 percent — could be traced back to small, private gatherings.

While Cuomo admitted that the government does not have the ability to monitor if individuals are adhering to his rule of no more than ten per private gathering, he stressed that “this is where the spread is coming from.”

“It’s a small gathering spread. We have to communicate this now to people the way we communicated masks. Seemingly the safest place — my home, my table, my family,” he continued. “Yeah, even that place is not safe.”

Days later, in a press conference featuring Dr. Anthony Fauci, Cuomo added that compliance remained a “major issue.”