8 in 10 Americans oppose dining out, reopening schools without more coronavirus testing

Most Americans don't think it's a good idea to reopen restaurants, have students return to school, or have people return to work without further COVID-19 testing, a new poll has found.

In an NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll released on Wednesday, 65 percent of those polled said it's a bad idea for people to return to work without further coronavirus testing, while 32 percent said it's a good idea. A majority of Republicans, 51 percent, said it's a good idea, however.

An even higher percentage of Americans, 85 percent, said it's a bad idea for students to return to school without further coronavirus testing, while 80 percent also said that without further testing, it's a bad idea to reopen restaurants for people to eat in and 91 percent said it's a bad idea to let large groups attend sporting events.

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This poll comes as numerous states have taken steps to slowly begin reopening some businesses as experts stress the importance of ramping up the number of coronavirus tests the U.S. conducts. On Tuesday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN that he's "being told" by those responsible for testing that everyone who needs a coronavirus test should be able to get one by the end of May or beginning of June, though he added, "if that doesn't happen, I'm going to go to them and say, 'What happened here?'"

The NPR/PBS Newshour/Marist poll was conducted by speaking to 1,008 U.S. adults over the phone from April 21 through April 26. The margin of error is 3.4 percentage points. Read more at NPR.