Millions of COVID-19 survivors have lost the sense of smell and taste. Will they come back? Not even researchers know.
Edelmira Rivera was lying on her bed with her husband and 16-month-old son selecting a movie when she heard a loud bang outside their home in Waco, Texas.
Then her sister screamed, “Fire!”
“I dropped everything and just grabbed my son and his blanket,” said Rivera, 22. “I could not smell anything. I was so shocked to see the fire at the front door.”
Rivera tested positive for COVID-19 and lost her sense of smell on Jan. 14. Early the next morning, a fire broke out on the other side of her bedroom wall, less than a foot from where she was lying. But Rivera couldn’t smell it, nor could the family of four who was staying with them.
