I also never had COVID, and the "weird shit" I put up my nose is a saline / bicarb solution in distilled water. I'll skip the brand name, but your drug store carries it.

And there are peer-reviewed studies about its efficacy.

On the other hand, I don't have kids & wasn't in crowds very much, so there's that.

Similar, but I've used Sanotize Enovid nitric oxide spray before going to a restaurant or other crowded place and when my spouse had covid at home.

https://sanotize.com/clinical-trials-covid/

> And there are peer-reviewed studies about its efficacy.

Do you have any links?

I find it hard to believe that bicarb has absolutely anything to do with preventing COVID, except maybe because it blocks your nose?

go to Google Scholar. The links are about preventing COVID from getting serious once you already have it.

the bicarb & saline are purely for comfort. The one time I left them out, I was reminded why people shy away from putting water up their noses: it burns.

So you are saying that putting plain water up your nose prevents COVID?

Searching Google scholar only shows one paper with about 60 people reviewed and an improvement of 30% from the control group not getting COVID, to 40% didn't get COVID if they washed their nose. Not exactly great numbers when you have so few people.

I don't see anything serious about your theory.

I'm saying there is reputable evidence. I don't understand your hostility to this, or why you think these aren't serious:

https://www.uclahealth.org/news/nasal-irrigation-may-help-wo...

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/09/220913110403.h...

      sample size of 79

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7453155/

Aside from the formal research, there is clinical support for it: just ask your doctor. Most likely he or she will say, "Sure, go ahead. A lot of my patients do it." That's what mine said.

And finally, I've found on previous social network discussions (including on HN) that the practice is fairly widespread.

Same. I haven't caught covid or any cold in three years now. Working remotely, use an N95 in public spaces.. Happy introvert without kids.

Same here. And I'm still living my life as I want - I go out to concerts, theaters, and restaurants, I just mask up when the situation allows. I haven't felt sick since 2020 and it's awesome. Used to catch a cold once a quarter.

Isn’t it impossible to know if you haven’t had Covid once vaccinated? (Because you will test positive for antibodies regardless)

You can get tests that see if you have antibodies for the non-spike regions of SARS-CoV-2. The vaccines only made anti-spike antibodies and people who were infected will have antibodies to other regions of the virus that the vaccine that did not target.

But isn't that also time limited to about 6 weeks, so you would have to have regular tests as well?

You can test specifically for vaccine antibodies, which are limited in diversity.