Researchers are testing for "true supernatural intervention" in coronavirus patients who pray.
The Kansas City Heart Rhythm Institute is looking at 1000 patients in intensive care with the coronavirus to see if a universal prayer in five denominational forms will do anything to help half of the patients while the other half go prayer-less. The prayers are offered to half of the patients in Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Buddhism.
The four-month study aims to compare death rates as well as time spent in an ICU and on ventilators, the New York Post reports.
"We all believe in science, and we also believe in faith," lead investigator Dr. Dhanunjaya Lakkireddy told NPR.
"If there is a supernatural power, which a lot of us believe, would that power of prayer and divine intervention change the outcomes in a concerted fashion? That was our question," he continued.
The study aims to investigate "the role of remote intercessory multi-denominational prayer on clinical outcomes in COVID-19 patients," according to the listing on the National Institutes of Health.