“Standard gargle, mouthwash, has been proven to kill the coronavirus,” Johnson said, according to an audio recording of his remarks. “If you get it, you may reduce viral replication. Why not try all these things?”…

Though mouthwash can partially kill off parts of the coronavirus in a person’s mouth, most infections occur through the nose, health experts said. “Even if gargling kills some of the virus, it won’t be able to clean the nasal area, nor the viruses that’s already penetrated deeper into the body,” said Kim Woo-Joo, an infectious-disease expert at Korea University…

Raymond Niaura, interim chair of the epidemiology department at New York University, said that gargling wouldn’t hurt if accompanied by vaccination.

“That way, one would be at reduced risk for infection and have good smelling breath,” he wrote in an email.