August 31, 2021

“The natural and effective cleansing of the air we breathe is a balance between water and salt in the airways and the hydrated nature of the air itself,” said David Edwards, formerly Professor of the Practice of Bioengineering (2002-2019) and now Associate at the Harvard John A Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and founder of the Boston-based health technology startup Sensory Cloud, which is one of the funders of the study. “Breathing humid and salty air appears to promote upper airway cleansing and to be a helpful practice in maintaining respiratory health in the face of the challenges to breathing clean air today.”

“Our findings indicate that upper airway hydration can be an effective and broadly accessible approach to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the broader crisis in global respiratory health,” said Dr. Dennis Ausiello, Director CATCH, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Jackson Distinguished Professor of Clinical Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

( Breathing humid and salt-enriched air reduces respiratory droplet generation (harvard.edu)