#Using mouthwash before kissing won’t stop COVID

The actors of “Riverdale” may not be safe from COVID-19, but at least their breath will be minty fresh.

In a video from the Vancouver, Canada, set of the show’s fifth season, “Riverdale” actors KJ Apa and Camila Mendes take a swig of mouthwash in an apparent effort to stave off the coronavirus before a kissing scene.

After locking arms and sipping, the actors pass off the cups to a gloved assistant and proceed to their intimate business.

“Our new normal is washing our mouths before every take of a make-out scene,” Apa, 23, captioned the clip.

But before you go swishing Oral-B ahead of your next Tinder date, beware: Mouthwash does absolutely nothing to prevent the spread of the disease, virology expert Vincent Racaniello told Insider.

“It’s absurd to think that rinsing with mouthwash will make making out safe,” said Racaniello, a professor of microbiology and immunology at Columbia University. “Mouthwash will not eliminate virus shed from the nose, for example, and will not eliminate all virus in saliva, either — it will be rapidly replenished from infected cells.”

Though it’s unclear if any other actors have gone the mouthwash route, TV and movie sets are still grappling with the conundrum of filming romantic scenes in the age of COVID. Most have taken a page from the porn industry and established regular coronavirus testing and contact tracing.

As for “Riverdale,” the actors returned to the set earlier this month and are under a strict quarantine.

Fellow “Riverdale” actor Lili Reinhart, 24, said their extreme social-distancing measures were anything but sexy. “I genuinely feel like a prisoner,” she told Nylon. “I cannot leave Canada. That doesn’t feel good. You can’t go home for Thanksgiving, can’t visit your family. No one can come visit you unless they quarantine for two weeks. It just feels f–ked.”