No cure so you gotta rest. Nose is stuffed so you gotta mouth breathe. Throat is dry from mouth breathing. Dry throat makes it painful to swallow. Pain keeps you from sleeping and recovering. Lack of sleep leads to worse symptoms like piercing headaches. Need to rest to get rid of the headaches. Headache and swallowing is too painful to rest properly. Lack of rest perpetuates headaches, nose congestion, dry throat, painful swallowing.
What is this BS
If you test positive in the first 3 days of having symptoms, you can get a Rx for Paxlovid which will shorten the duration and severity of symptoms, and help you avoid long covid or complications.
But after that it does nothing, and even in the first three days, it does nothing for about half of users.