Not To Be Sniffed At!

A study in the British Medical Journal estimates that 1 in 20 people, contracting a Covid19 infection, still had problems with their sense of smell/taste, more than 6 months later (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jul/27/covid-study-finds-millions-have-long-term-smell-or-taste-problems). Smell and taste are, of course, strongly-linked sensations, based in our ability to detect molecules of particular shapes. Apart from the basic detection of sweet, sour, salty etc on the tongue, the mechanisms are in the respiratory apparatus of the nose. This is a part of the body infected (and damaged) by the virus. The connection with the olfactory region of the brain may be damaged. Lots of people simply can't wake up to smell the coffee!