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The article discusses key issues concerning the interplay between religion and politics in the U.S. and the co-existence of the religious and secular components of American society. It includes an in-depth analysis of the considerable discontent within the barren aspects of modern life that has given rise to the religious revival in the U.S.

The outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) severely threatens the public health worldwide, but the transmission mechanism and the effectiveness of mitigation measures remain uncertain. Here we assess the role of airborne transmission in spreading the disease and the effectiveness of face covering in preventing inter-human transmission for the top-fifteen infected U.S. states during March 1 and May 18, 2020. For all fifteen states, the curve of total confirmed infections exhibits an initial sub-exponential growth and a subsequent linear growth after implementing social distancing/stay-at-home orders. The linearity extends one to two months for the six states without mandated face covering and to the onset of mandated face covering for the other nine states with this measure, reflecting a dynamic equilibrium between first-order transmission kinetics and intervention. For the states with mandated face covering, significant deviation from this linearity and curve flattening occur after the onset of this measure for seven states, with exceptions for two states. Most states exhibit persistent upward trends in the daily new infections after social distancing/stay-at-home orders, while reversed downward or slowing trends occur for eight states after implementing mandated face covering. The inadequacy of social distancing and stay-at-home measures alone in preventing inter-human transmission is reflected by the continuous linear growth in the total infection curve after implementing these measures, which is mainly driven by airborne transmission. We estimate that the number of the total infections prevented by face covering reaches ~252,000 on May 18 in seven states, which is equivalent to ~17% of the total infections in the nation. We conclude that airborne transmission and face covering play the dominant role in spreading the disease and flattening the total infection curve, respectively. Our findings provide policymakers and the public with compelling evidence that universal face covering, in conjunction with social distancing and hand hygiene, represents the maximal protection against inter-human transmission and the combination of these intervention measures with rapid and extensive testing as well as contact tracing is crucial in containing the COVID-19 pandemic., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Various mitigation measures have been implemented to fight the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, including widely adopted social distancing and mandated face covering. However, assessing the effectiveness of those intervention practices hinges on the understanding of virus transmission, which remains uncertain. Here we show that airborne transmission is highly virulent and represents the dominant route to spread the disease. By analyzing the trend and mitigation measures in Wuhan, China, Italy, and New York City, from January 23 to May 9, 2020, we illustrate that the impacts of mitigation measures are discernable from the trends of the pandemic. Our analysis reveals that the difference with and without mandated face covering represents the determinant in shaping the pandemic trends in the three epicenters. This protective measure alone significantly reduced the number of infections, that is, by over 78,000 in Italy from April 6 to May 9 and over 66,000 in New York City from April 17 to May 9. Other mitigation measures, such as social distancing implemented in the United States, are insufficient by themselves in protecting the public. We conclude that wearing of face masks in public corresponds to the most effective means to prevent interhuman transmission, and this inexpensive practice, in conjunction with simultaneous social distancing, quarantine, and contact tracing, represents the most likely fighting opportunity to stop the COVID-19 pandemic. Our work also highlights the fact that sound science is essential in decision-making for the current and future public health pandemics., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing interest., (Copyright © 2020 the Author(s). Published by PNAS.)