NBA player’s odd coronavirus side effect actually may be little-known COVID-19 symptom
Two weeks ago Monday, Utah Jazz star Rudy Gobert jokingly touched microphones and recorders after a news conference as he made light of coronavirus concerns.
Two days later, Gobert was diagnosed with COVID-19 setting off a chain of events that has led to a hiatus of sports in the United States and around the world.
On Sunday, Gobert gave an update on how he’s feeling and revealed a strange side effect of the virus: his sense of smell is gone.
The technical term for what Gobert is experiencing is anosmia, and the Mayo Clinic noted not having a good sense of smell could lead to a difficulty telling the difference between how foods taste.
And, as Gobert noted, a loss of taste is a coronavirus symptom. Specifically, dysgeusia is “a qualitative distortion of the sense of taste,” per the palliative care network of Wisconsin.
What Gobert is experiencing may be more common for people with COVID-19 than anyone thought.
The American Academy of Otolaryngology said the lack of smell and taste should be included by physicians as a potential symptoms of coronavirus.
It wrote on its website: “Anecdotal evidence is rapidly accumulating from sites around the world that anosmia and dysgeusia are significant symptoms associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Anosmia, in particular, has been seen in patients ultimately testing positive for the coronavirus with no other symptoms. We propose that these symptoms be added to the list of screening tools for possible COVID-19 infection.”
Officials in England also see the loss of smell as a sign of the the virus and encourage people to self-quarantine if the symptom arises even with no other symptoms.
“We really want to raise awareness that this is a sign of infection and that anyone who develops loss of sense of smell should self-isolate,” Claire Hopkins, president of the British Rhinological Society, wrote in an email to the New York Times. “It could contribute to slowing transmission and save lives.”
