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The number of Americans who believe there will be a return to normal within the next six months or sooner is on the rise, according to a new Axios-Ipsos poll released on Tuesday. Today, 40% of those polled think this is the case, against 26% at the end of January.

And the number of people who think it will take a year or more to return to normal is more down, now 17% from 30% at the end of January. The poll, which was conducted March 5-8, was based on a nationally representative sample of 1,001 Americans aged 18 and over.

In the poll, 20% say they don’t know when they will return to pre-coronavirus activity levels for in-person gatherings outside their homes or for dinner at a restaurant. Others have a mix of responses – 30% say they’ve attended face-to-face meetings, 29% said they will after they or everyone in their circle has been vaccinated, 21% say they will when officials say it’s safe, and 20% don’t know.

As 25% of those polled said they had received the vaccine, the vast majority of those polled said they will continue public health measures even after being vaccinated, 81% saying they would continue to wear a mask, 66% continuing. their social distances and 87% declaring that they will continue to wash or disinfect their hands frequently.

As those numbers change, so do the numbers of Americans who stay home and avoid contact with others and engage in social interactions outside of the home.

The number of Americans who say they avoid contact, 13%, is its lowest since October and down six points from a month ago. The number of Americans who visited family or friends last week – 44% – is up seven points from a month ago.

The survey also looked at personal benefits recorded since the start of the pandemic. It found that 36% said spending more time at home was the biggest personal benefit, 33% said spending less / saving more was the biggest personal benefit, and a quarter said spending more time with it. family.

There was also “some cautious optimism” around finances, with fewer people saying their ability to pay their rent or mortgage had deteriorated, and a smaller number saying they had been temporarily absent or absent. suspended from their work.

Finally, the poll looked at how the pandemic affected dreams. It found that one in 3 Americans had reported strange or vivid dreams in the past month, a quarter had stressful or frightening dreams, and less than one in 10 had coronavirus-specific dreams.