losing taste and smell first sign of covid-19

[specialmom]

Anyone know much about this?  I have seen a few reports that this is one of the first things people go through, losing their sense of smell and taste.  

[AlbertinaG]

Some people have the symptom of loosing taste and smell sense but it is not yet confirmed as the key symptom. There are not many cases showing this symptom. Be safe.

[specialmom]

I keep thinking it is something i can monitor.  ha.  You know, that desire to feel like you are in some control of a situation.  I actually was like "oh good, I still taste that . . . no corona today" but I guess that is a false sense of security.  

[Paxiled]

Yes, this is true.  I reported this on this forum in an earlier post.  I saw an interview with someone who had as the first -- and only -- symptoms the loss of smell and taste.  Upon seeking further info, this person, who I can't remember now but think was a journalist, was told by a physician that this was indeed a symptom and that the person should be tested.  Upon testing, sure enough, he had the virus.  I haven't seen a follow-up interview, so I don't know how the disease progressed from there.  Folks, if you watch CNN and MSNBC and national news programs and read a good daily newspaper you will learn more about this disease than you will ever want to know.  Right now one of the hosts on CNN, Chris Cuomo, the brother of the governor of New York, has the virus and is doing his nightly show anyway and reporting how it's going.  Also, every night on CNN Sanjay Gupta, a neurosurgeon who has become a medical journalist answers questions about the virus.  On MSNBC there are a couple of well known epidemiologists who appear nightly to do the same.  Last night Gallo was on, one of the two scientists who developed the test for HIV.  This is very useful if scary info, and will answer a lot of the questions being posed on this forum.  

[AnxiousNoMore]

It has been reported in several countries and a UK study 2 weeks ago, but most government websites don't mention it yet as a symptom to watch out for. You can google lots of articles about olfactory symptoms and loss of taste a few days after the smell sense is lost. the UK study said it was the first symptom for some but new data comes out daily so all I do is sniff the coffee each morning then smile.

[AnnieBrooke]

I saw a report from someone who had Covid-19 in which he had the loss of smell and taste, but only about halfway into the illness. A lot of reports include it as a symptom but say it is sort of a harbinger. In this guy's case, it happened after he already knew he was sick.