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Want to avoid Covid? This may help. [1]

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Date: 2022-12-14

A somewhat recent journal article caught my attention since it was on a subject I’ve been very interested in. The article (Synopsis of article) presents the results of a study performed in the latter half of 2020, thus before vaccines were available, showing that twice daily sinus rinses were highly effective in reducing hospitalization from COVID-19 and also was effective in more rapidly resolving the symptoms of the illness. Toward the end of the paper, (Rapid initiation of nasal saline irrigation to reduce severity in high-risk COVID+ outpatients) the authors cite another paper (ref 43 in above citation) that hospital workers who performed regular oral and sinus rinses were nearly 10 times less likely to catch COVID-19 when compared to the control group.

Due to chronic sinusitis, I’ve been doing 2X daily sinus rinses for years, and I’ve wondered whether this has helped me avoid Covid. The above papers suggest that it may have. In the last two weeks,, I’ve been at small gatherings where the host or other attendee has tested positive for Covid a day or two later. Fortunately, multiple subsequent at-home tests have shown that I remain negative.

I’m not a physician, though I try to stay up to date on the science related to SARS CoV-2. Based on what I’ve read, this is my recommendation: 1) stay up to date on vaccinations; 2) wear good masks when in indoor environments, especially when community spread is high; 3) do twice-daily sinus rinses with a saline solution, at least after being potentially exposed to SARS CoV-2. Vaccinations will help the body deal with any virus that gets into your upper respiratory tract. Masks will limit the amount of virus that gets in. Sinus rinses will remove much of what gets in, letting the immune system deal with the hopefully small amount of virus that remains before the virus can quickly replicate and cause an infection. This seems to have worked for me (and my significant other) so far. Hopefully it will work for you!

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/12/14/2141895/-Want-to-avoid-Covid-This-may-help

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