evidence: The Johns Hopkins University school of public health has listed "[d]rinking a lot of water and gargling with warm water and salt or vinegar eliminates the virus," among the debunked COVID-19 treatments. Amesh Adalja, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, said that while COVID-19 may cause a sore throat, gargling with warm salted water "may make it feel better, [but] has no direct effect on the virus." [...] The trial is a next step after a pilot study with results published in the Journal of Global Health in March. Titled, "Hypertonic saline nasal irrigation and gargling should be considered as a treatment option for COVID-19," the pilot study involved 66 adult volunteers infected with two different strains of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.