A new Axios-Ipsos poll suggests that Americans are moving forward with their social lives by creating "bubbles," groups of people they know and trust who adhere to the guidelines of minimizing the risks of COVID-19 transmission. The trend is pretty much evenly distributed across the board, with 47% of Americans saying they have already established social bubbles.

According to Axios, social bubbles appear to be nonpartisan, with 50% of Democrats and 49% of Republicans, along with 42% of independents, acknowledging they've created their own. More women, suburban residents, and older folks have formed social bubbles, according to the poll.

"It's an indicator of how we've adjusted our lives," Cliff Young, president of Ipsos Public Affairs, told Axios. "It's reinforcing our networks, it's reinforcing those who are proximate to us. This is one way people feel they have some sort of control. They are trying to have a normal life with people they trust."

Experts say that while creating a social bubble, or as some call them play pods, can enhance your life both socially and mentally, it's not something to enter into lightly.

"In order to make your play pod as safe as possible, it's important that you put some boundaries in place," Dr. Harvey Karp, a pediatrician, told Healthline. "First, the more people who are in your pod, the greater your COVID exposure risk. Pick one other family, maybe two, and invited them into your pod. Ideally, keep your overall pod size to 10 people or fewer."

The Axios-Ipsos poll also discovered that Americans are skeptical that a vaccine will end the pandemic nightmare. More than one in four said they considered it "a large risk" to take a first generation vaccine as soon as it's available.