2 other things you can do to reduce the viral load of COVID while you are sick with it, which decreases the severity/lowers your risk of long COVID:
-
Use a mouthwash containing .07% CPC (like https://amazon.com/dp/B06XC4DSSW for example) twice a day while you are sick [1]
-
Use Covixyl (active ingredient ELAH/ethyl lauroyl arginine hydrochloride, deemed generally safe by the FDA) nasal spray or Betadine cold defence nasal spray (active ingredient iota-carrageenan) 3x per day [2]. Important: Do not use a povidone-iodine nasal spray, that can be harmful and the FDA bans those.
Sources
[1] Efficacy of CPC mouthwash for decreasing the viral load of COVID: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8941951/
[2] Efficacy of using a nasal spray while you have COVID to decrease the severity and make you get better faster: https://ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9969373
Although Paxlovid is the first/most important thing to do to decrease your likelihood of long COVID, using CPC mouthwash and nasal sprays while you have COVID is a good idea to do regardless, with or without Paxlovid.