Solid majorities of Americans are worried about a 2nd wave of COVID-19 infections as states reopen

All 50 states have started easing restrictions put in place to slow the spread of COVID-19, but there's no guarantee people will rush out to the stores, especially with no plans in place for when cases start rising, as they have in other countries that reopened.

"There's a great sense that normalcy is not around the corner," pollster Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, told NPR News. And with some states opening without meeting federal guidelines, there's "a real disconnect between public opinion and public policy." In Marist's new poll for NRP and PBS NewsHour and a new Associated Press-NORC poll, solid majorities of Americans said they are concerned that as people start gathering in public again, coronavirus cases and deaths will follow.

In the AP/NORC poll, 83 percent of Americans said they are very (54 percent) or somewhat (29 percent) concerned that lifting restrictions will lead to a rise in infections. In the Marist poll, 77 percent of Americans said they are concerned or very concerned about a second wave of infections. There are growing partisan splits in each poll, but "the overwhelming majority feel we're in no way out of the woods," Miringoff said. "The notion that there's the potential or likelihood of a second wave is strong, and we see that clearly across party lines."

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Majorities of Americans told AP-NORC pollsters that before restrictions are lifted, it's essential that authorities to be able to require quarantine for people exposed to the virus (78 percent), distancing of six feet in most places (58 percent), and face masks in public places (58 percent), and 59 percent said there must be widespread testing available in their area. A 46 percent plurality said a vaccine must be available before business can resume. When Marist asked when people thought their life would resume a sense of normalcy, 65 percent said more than six months, including 55 percent of Republicans and 78 percent of Democrats.

The AP-NORC poll was conducted May 14-18 among 1,056 adults nationwide, and it has a margin of sampling error of ±4.2 percentage points. Marist interviewed 1,007 adults on the phone May 12-17, and its poll has a margin of error of ±3.6 points.