I'm using a nasal spray and a nasal rinse - you might want to also

I don't do my own research, but I like to do a good literature review now and then.¹ 

Back in the fall, an old friend who is now a retired physician, told us that she has started using nasal sprays and nasal rinses to prevent COVID-19 and other respiratory infections like flu and RSV.

The idea of spraying or rinsing my nose made me shudder but I thought I should check it out and now I am a convert.

Literature Review

There are more papers on this topic than you or I can keep track of. But all of the ones I've seen conclude that nasal sprays and nasal rinses can dramatically lower the chance of someone getting COVID-19 and other infections and that nasal rinses can also reduce the severity of an infection that has started. Furthermore, there are no apparent harms caused by the sprays or rinses they are testing.

Nasal spray with Iota-Carageenan (I-C):  A 2021 pilot study concluded "a nasal spray with I-C showed significant efficacy in preventing COVID-19 in health care workers managing patients with COVID-19 disease."

Nasal spray with azelastine: An 8-week trial in Germany concluded that "SARS-CoV-2 [or COVID-19] infections was significantly lower with application of azelastine nasal spray compared with placebo treatment."

Nasal spray with other ingredients: An article from OneDayMD titled 8 Best Anti-COVID Nasal Sprays (2024) lists Povidone Iodine Nasal Spray as their #1 choice.²

Nasal rinse (or irrigation): A 2024 paper from China recommends "that saline nasal irrigation is an effective, safe and convenient strategy to prevent the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 [or COVID-19] and alleviate the symptoms of URTI [upper respiratory tract infections] across various age groups."  

To spray or to rinse

I follow the lead of my doctor friend. Before I am encountering other people, I use my nasal spray. It's one quick spritz in each nostril and a quick wipe with my handkerchief. When the encounter is over, I spritz again.

The nasal spray is fast and easy and not at all uncomfortable. In fact, with the dry winter air, it kind of feels good.

If I have a big day with lots of in-person encounters, I also do a nasal rinse in the evening. It's not as bad as I thought it was going to be, and it does feel like it was a good thing to do, but I have to acknowledge that it is kind of unpleasant and requires more fussing around. 

To rinse, you squeeze the bottle of saline solution so that half of it goes up one nostril and drains through the other one. Then you switch nostrils for the second half of the bottle. Yes. It is kind of gross. But you do it all alone, over the sink in the bathroom with the door closed. And it's really not so bad. Not like that time you snorted cream soda up your nose because someone made you laugh.  

For more information on this topic, you might want to read Nasal Rinse vs. Nasal Spray: What’s the Difference? at allergyxrinse.com. 

My nasal spray choice: Salinex Protect

I've gone with Salinex Protect. It has Iota-Carageenan, it's not too expensive and it's carried at the ubiquitous Shoppers Drug Mart. (It's probably carried at other places like IDA and Rexall drugstores, but they have really bad search engines on their websites.) 

I would really like to use a nasal spray with azelastine. It's got strong research behind it and there have been articles saying that it's an approved over-the-counter thing in Canada, but I cannot find it anywhere. It's not just a really-bad-search-engine problem, I've gone to various pharmacies and checked the ingredients on all their nasal sprays.³

I have a hunch that just about any saline nasal spray would be a good idea, but I'm not ready to start using one of the allergy-relief ones that have cortico-steroids.

My nasal rinse choice: Life Brand Nasal Rinse & Squeeze Bottle System

A lot of people use a neti pot for nasal irrigation. The lovely Manon suggested to me that the fuss of cleaning a Neti Pot made it not worth its reusability and this made a lot of sense to me.

I have invested in the Life Brand Nasal Rinse & Squeeze Bottle System from Shoppers. As mentioned, it requires a bit of fussing around, but not much really. And it's a little unpleasant to do, but not very. I bet I'll get used to it.

Conclusion

It's December 2025, I haven't had COVID-19 and I will continue to make efforts to keep it that way.

¹ There was a time I did my own research. Over 40 years ago, in my undergraduate class, Perception: Mechanisms and Models, I designed and performed several experiments and the professor awarded me his inaugural Flying Fechner award for determining the minimum intensity of light that is visible. I believe Professor Wolfe was impressed that I developed a new unit, the tp, to describe the number of sheets of toilet paper used to cover a small flashlight in a pitch dark bathroom.   

² The article links to a list of studies at c19pvpi.com, but I can't open that site. It says "Sorry, you have been blocked" and "There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data." 

³ If you know where an azelastine nasal spray is available, please let me know.