Over the past month, Americans have heard a lot about "flattening the curve" and reducing the strain on the healthcare system by limiting their exposure to COVID-19.
Despite being instructed to continue practicing social distancing, Americans' support for prolonged government-mandated restrictions has been neither complete nor unwavering.From mid-March to mid-April, Gallup tracked a question asking Americans about their likelihood of complying with requests by public health officials for people to remain home for a month in the event of a serious coronavirus outbreak in their community.
Over that period, the idea of long-term shelter-in-place orders went from hypothetical to actual in most communities, and Gallup eventually ceased asking