Anons, FWIW, I can give you anecdotally my experience. I would be considered in the "high risk" group. I have many years of really bad chest infections with several hospital admissions requiring IV antibiotics and meds for bad pneumonias in my youth. I have been told I have the "lungs of a 3 pack a day smoker" from all the scarring and damage, although I have never smoked a day in my life, or been around smokers. It's bad. For some reason, I was always super-sensitive to picking up respiratory infections and going downhill fast.
This season, both my daughter and I got sick around the same time after spending time with a grandson who had a cough and runny nose. Within a few hours of leaving his house, I had low grade fever, cough and my throat felt on fire. I decided to try a regime recommended to me by a DO friend who is super in to natural foods/supplements first, big Pharma RX as a last resort.
I did neti pot with sterile saline and added drops that included some essential oils. I used the neti pot every 8 hrs. I let some of the saline run down the back of the throat to wash any viral load down into the stomach, as the directions on the neti pot stated.
I then took zinc orotate, quecertin with stinging nettle formulation, NAC, a multivitamin and extra Vit C.
I lay down on the bed with my neck hyperextended and slowly let a zinc lozenge dissolve and drip down the back of my throat.
I did a nebulizer mask with no additives, just saline every 12 hrs.
Made sure to drink lots of fluids, including ginger tea, green tea, elderberry, and ribina (black current juice). No sugary sweet things like soda (gingerale). No tylenol, aspirin, motrin, etc.
Within 24 hrs the fever was gone and within 48 hrs, fever, sore throat, cough and chest congestion was gone.
I have never bounced back so quickly EVER from a respiratory incident without needing antibiotics and being completely wiped out.
My daughter was sick for 5 days and was sent home from work because the plant nurse had said she had bronchitis. She sure sounded terrible, even worse than I was.
I gave her all that I had, the nebulizer machine, neti pot, zinc and other supplements, the zinc lozenges. She did the same regime and bounced back even quicker than I did. Before I gave her my supplies, she was sleeping 18+ hrs a day because she was so exhausted and she had not only a bad chest infection, she had a really bad sinus and ear tube infection.
I am not a doctor nor am I recommending anyone not seek the advice of a qualified medical provider. I am just sharing my experience in the hopes it can help. I think it's important to get ahead of these bugs before they get a chance to have a foothold in your system. I really believe it was the zinc + quercetin plus the saline rinses that were the big difference.