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Republicans have emphasized their refusal to go backward.

“You don’t need to shut things down,” said Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas, a doctor. “Look, as far as I know, not one child under the age of 18 has died from Covid, unless they had some type of a serious health condition as well.”

Deaths in American children are exceedingly low — 346 as of July 15 — but some of them most likely did not have underlying health conditions.

So far, Republicans have also resisted raising alarm bells in conservative populations. The Kaiser Family Foundation reported at the end of June that 86 percent of Democrats had at least one shot, compared with 52 percent of Republicans.

Policymakers feel hamstrung, in large part because once Americans resume life without masks and other restrictions, it will be difficult to go back. Vaccine and mask mandates would almost certainly prompt a fierce backlash, but they could also save lives.

“We’ve all got this psychology, well it’s over, but intellectually we know it ain’t over,” said Representative Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, the majority leader. He asked, “How do we get a society that had a tremendous sense of being locked up in a mask, then got free, to go back?”